Andrew Blake Smith

I am originally from Fort Worth, but have been stationed in Charleston SC, Upstate NY, Pearl Harbor HI, and Bremerton WA. I was in the Navy from 2015-2021. I served onboard a submarine as a mechanist mate nuclear. I am a mechanical engineering major and a student technician at the Applied Research Laboratory.
Before joining the Navy, I would consider myself small-minded and closed off to views that didn’t align with my own. While in the Navy, I was constantly surrounded by people I didn’t always see eye to eye with. I frequently found myself making friends with people I would have written off as a high school student. During my time of service, I learned that some of the best people you will meet in life are sometimes people that aren’t like you in any way. I now find myself constantly striving to be more inclusive to my peers and seeking friendships with people from all backgrounds. This has a lot of carry over to my college career. UT has people from all over the world, and I now look at every person I meet as an opportunity to gain perspective from someone who comes from a completely different walk of life.