{"id":73772,"date":"2026-01-14T08:43:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T13:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/news\/?p=73772"},"modified":"2026-01-27T08:31:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T13:31:16","slug":"known-as-sarge-utc-engineering-student-earns-gilman-scholarship-after-years-away-from-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/news\/2026\/01\/known-as-sarge-utc-engineering-student-earns-gilman-scholarship-after-years-away-from-college\/","title":{"rendered":"Known as ‘Sarge,’ UTC engineering student earns Gilman Scholarship after years away from college"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jessica

Chemical engineering student Jessica Hobbs has two years left in the Army Reserve. Photo by Angela Foster.<\/p><\/div>\n

Going through life without a degree was out of the question for Jessica Hobbs.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the start of her college journey, she was a nursing student at Chattanooga State <\/span>Community College<\/span> who felt lost when she realized that the profession may not be for her.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nearly a decade later, Hobbs is nearing graduation from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with a degree in chemical engineering. She is also an Innovations in Honors student in the UTC Honors College and the recipient of the Gilman Scholarship, which will allow her to travel to the Netherlands this spring free of charge.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hobbs would not describe the experience of getting to where she is now as \u201ceasy.\u201d For her, it took both mental and physical strength\u2014and doing something she never dreamed of.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI graduated high school in 2015 and started going to Chattanooga State immediately after. That\u2019s when the HOPE Scholarship came into play, so two free years of college,\u201d said Hobbs, a Signal Mountain High School graduate who hails from Chattanooga.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until she began working in a hospital that she realized that nursing was not for her. It led her to drop out.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI told myself that if I still didn\u2019t have the money to go back to school after one year, then I needed to do something to go back,\u201d she said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t going to just stop going to college or give up on my degree.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When the year passed and she still did not have the funds, Hobbs walked into a military recruiting office.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI told them exactly what I wanted. I said, \u2018I\u2019m not going to join unless I can get an enlistment bonus, student loan repayment and all these benefits. I want my college paid for,\u2019\u201d Hobbs recalled.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When they offered her a position, she quickly signed. \u201cI was like, \u2018This is going to get me back to school. Beggars can\u2019t be choosers here. It\u2019s going to be hard, but I\u2019m going to get my degree.\u2019\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hobbs joined the U.S. Army Reserve and was \u201cshipped off for basic training.\u201d When she returned, she reenrolled at ChattState. She got \u201cthe call\u201d after only six months.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey called me and said, \u2018Hey, you\u2019re getting deployed,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cI thought to myself, \u2018No,\u2019 because I\u2019d only been back for one semester.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the summer of 2021, Hobbs was deployed to Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, where she served as a heavy equipment operator. She worked on bulldozers, backhoe scrapers, graders and other heavy machinery.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After her year-long deployment, Hobbs advanced in her role, earning the rank of construction engineering sergeant.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She knew it was time to hit the ground running in her education again. Still, she waited until the beginning of 2023 to enroll at UTC so she could secure a transfer scholarship offered only during the fall semester.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite being a \u201cnontraditional\u201d college student, she did not refrain from soaking up the college experience.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI told myself, \u2018I deployed for this degree. We\u2019re going to get the most out of it,\u2019\u201d said Hobbs, who is now often referred to as \u201cSarge\u201d around the UTC campus. \u201cI joined the Honors College, met with all the professors there and got to know the benefits. I went to the Veteran and Military Affairs office. I got to know all the benefits of being a veteran student.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hobbs found out about the Netherlands trip through the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Realizing what a great opportunity it could be, she met with Dr. Trey Straussberger, the director of the Office of National Scholarships, who suggested that she apply for the Gilman.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Gilman Scholarship is funded by the United States Department of State,\u201d Straussberger said. \u201cIt\u2019s meant to facilitate students who would like to study abroad but otherwise don\u2019t have the funding to do that. It\u2019s a wonderful opportunity for many students here at UTC who otherwise would\u2019ve seen studying abroad as something unattainable.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At first, Hobbs thought it might be beyond reach.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh man, national scholarship. That\u2019s crazy. How would I get this?\u201d she recalled thinking. \u201cYou\u2019re competing against the whole U.S. in order to get this scholarship.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When she went through the application process, she was in the middle of a 19-credit-hour semester. She got the email that she had won during finals, which she described as \u201ca huge relief.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018This is insane,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cI was not expecting to receive the scholarship.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Jessica<\/p>\n

As she looks ahead toward her trip to the Netherlands and graduation, Hobbs can reflect on a busy but successful last few years.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On top of schoolwork and attending mandatory Army drills, she has also worked as a nuclear systems and components intern at the Tennessee Valley Authority and as a process technology intern at Olin, a chemical manufacturing plant in Charleston, Tennessee.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Before her internships, she attended a Noncommissioned Officer Academy at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, completing military training and soft skills development in areas such as physical fitness and first aid\u2014as well as public speaking and writing.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hobbs graduated first in a class of 127 sergeants.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re judged according to how you interact with people, what your leadership style is, how you are as a person, your competencies and attributes,\u201d she said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These values were put to the test last summer when she went on a trip to Scandinavia with the Honors College, which Straussberger also attended.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe was more like a chaperone than another student,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that comes from her background of being in the military and a noncommissioned officer, but also due to her kind of determination and responsibility.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hobbs laughed as she recalled helping the younger students avoid cars and bikes in the cobblestone streets, allowing her \u201csergeant\u201d to come out.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI reached my arm out, grabbed him by the jacket and literally yanked him out of the road,\u201d she said about one student who was almost run over. \u201cBecause I was still doing my weightlifting, I was pretty dang strong at this point.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She is still maintaining her fitness, as she has two years left of inactive duty in the reserve before she is discharged.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As for the future, Hobbs said she doesn\u2019t have any \u201cextravagant plans.\u201d To her, success means graduating, advancing in her chemical engineering career and being financially stable\u2014something her military experience helped with.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI look back on the moment that I was signing my paperwork,\u201d she said. \u201cI was very determined to get my degree and I wasn\u2019t going to stay a college dropout forever.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI would probably do it all over again just because I\u2019m where I\u2019m at now because I did it. I learned things in the Army, too. I learned what it means to have a routine, stay disciplined and to really push hard when you want something.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Learn more<\/h4>\n

Visit UTC<\/a><\/p>\n

UTC Honors College<\/a><\/p>\n

College of Engineering and Computer Science<\/a><\/p>\n

How to apply<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the start of her college journey, she was a nursing student at Chattanooga State Community College who felt lost when she realized that the profession may not be for her.\u00a0Nearly a decade later, Hobbs is nearing graduation from UTC with a degree in chemical engineering. She is also an Innovations in Honors student in the UTC Honors College and the recipient of the Gilman Scholarship, which will allow her to travel to the Netherlands this spring free of charge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Continue Reading <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2000,"featured_media":73841,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_slider":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_featurette":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,70,15,12737,59,3,122493,122313,7712,12745,781,8325,661],"tags":[123827,123826,72942,117231,124987,123828,124776,123829,123605],"class_list":{"0":"post-73772","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-academics","8":"category-campus","9":"category-chemical-engineering","10":"category-college-of-engineering-and-computer-science","11":"category-community","12":"category-education","13":"category-experiential-learning","14":"category-faculty-and-staff","15":"category-honors-college-2","16":"category-news","17":"category-scholarship","18":"category-service","19":"category-students","20":"tag-creating-the-mocs-experience","21":"tag-cultivating-a-culture-of-innovation","22":"tag-gilman-scholarship","23":"tag-innovations-in-honors","24":"tag-jessica-hobbs","25":"tag-leveraging-our-special-place-as-chattanoogas-university","26":"tag-mocs-learn-mocs-do-mocs-lead","27":"tag-operating-with-excellence","28":"tag-trey-straussberger","29":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nKnown as 'Sarge,' UTC engineering student earns Gilman Scholarship after years away from college | UTC News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"At the start of her college journey, she was a nursing student at Chattanooga State Community College who felt lost when she realized that the profession may not be for her.\u00a0Nearly a decade later, Hobbs is nearing graduation from UTC with a degree in chemical engineering. 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