The newly appointed Student Government Director of Military Affairs hopes to make a difference here on campus as well as in a country halfway across the world.
Katie Gale, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, participated in forming the group AU Vets and in advocating for military affairs in the SG. In years past, she has gone on the two Alternative Break trips to Nepal.
She hopes to continue her work in Nepal after graduation. But while still here, she hopes to help veterans on campus.
Gale was the Service/Civilian Chair when AU Vets was founded and is now the vice president. Gale’s friend Brandon Krapf, the founder of AU Vets, was the first to encourage Katie to get involved in the organization.
“I originally got involved in military affairs because my uncle is a Vietnam veteran,” Gale said. “Brandon Krapf pulled me into Veteran Students of America. I was really interested in what they were doing, and the group was just starting, so I helped them get started. I’ve been involved ever since.”
The SG Director of Military Affairs position will help address the unique needs of veterans at AU and facilitate benefits for those involved in the military, Gale said.
One of the main goals of the SG and AU Vets this year is to get Reserve Officers’ Training Corps recognition on campus.
Without University recognition, cadets are not able to use AU facilities or benefits that they would have if they were recognized, Gale said.
This is not her first time fighting to get recognition for a social group. Gale’s first Alternative Breaks trip to Nepal focused on gender stratification, discrimination and the caste system.
Even though Nepal no longer officially has a caste system, the prejudices from that system remain, especially in the mistreatment of the lowest class, Dalits, according to Gale.
She went on two Alternative Breaks trips to Nepal, one during summer 2009 and one during summer 2010.
The Nepal Alternative Break group’s service project was to teach the women of a village in the Terai region how to use a sewing machine.
When the group first met the women of the village in Nepal, they were “uneducated, unemployed, illiterate and at a high risk for human trafficking and for diseases,” Gale said.
But when she returned to Nepal on another Alternative Breaks trip the next summer, she was surprised and glad to find the women were using the sewing machines to make clothing to sell. The women had more power at home with their husbands and fathers because of this new source of income.
Gale currently serves on the Alternative Breaks advisory board. In this position, she reviews trip proposals, weighs the pros and cons of each trip and helps decide whether or not the trip will be held the following year.
She said she now views her life in two stages: before Nepal and after Nepal. In the future, she hopes to work with national development and international relations as a career.
Gale said she wants students participating in the Alternative Breaks program this year to enjoy their experiences and be inspired to do more good for others.
“I hope it empowers them to keep reaching out, pushing across those lines, taking chances and realizing that there is room to make a change for people who want it,” she said.
She has found that dealing with veterans and dealing with Alternative Break participants has sometimes been similar.
“Both groups are passionate about what they do, and I hope to work with both groups to channel their passions into something constructive,” she said.
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Gale is originally from Greenwich, Conn. “I miss my dog and my dance studio the most,” she said.
In high school, she volunteered for the American Red Cross. She led a team of “Safe Rides,” a program that provided free rides home to area high schoolers.
She also volunteered at her dance studio to teach children from ages three to seven. “The most interesting thing [about this job] was definitely the completely non-PC things the 3-year-olds would say,” she said.
Gale is a “die-hard Yankees fan” who hopes her team can make the MLB playoffs in October.
Gale likes that her literature major has exposed her to different styles of writing and has made her think more critically. She said this will be a good skill to have when she eventually pursues a master’s degree in international relations.
