KINGSTON, R.I. – May 15, 2023 – When Chantel Rosario De Los Santos decided she wanted to go to college, she knew she would have to find a way to finance it on her own. A meeting with a recruiter for the Army National Guard during her junior year of high school provided her a path forward. An athlete who played both basketball and softball at Classical High School in Providence, she was unafraid of the physical demands of military training – she even had an interest in it – and committed to the Army National Guard post-graduation. Little did she know how important that decision would be to leading her to a community of her own.

After six months of training at Ft. Leonard Wood, near St. Robert, Missouri, she began her academic career at the University of Rhode Island in January 2019 with an interest in athletic training. Fast forward to the spring of 2020 and Rosario De Los Santos soon found herself called to full-time active duty with the Rhode Island National Guard during Rhode Island’s COVID-19 emergency.

In the early days that meant 12-hour shifts overnight as an MP working hand in hand with the Rhode Island State Police on highway patrol – stopping cars on their way into the state and collecting information to help enforce quarantine restrictions. The schedule was grueling.

“It was surreal. We would be there with our masks on, with loaded weapons, tasers, pepper spray on our belts, in the middle of the night trying to do our jobs. People were a little freaked out,” she said. “Then I’d have to go home and try to get some sleep while everyone else was getting up.”        

Over time, she moved from highway patrol to providing support at the state’s testing and vaccination centers – rotating between sites in Providence, Lincoln and, eventually, Cranston. 

Luckily, the shift to online classes, while not necessarily ideal, allowed her to stay on track. “I kept going. I was not stopping for anything.”

Rosario De Los Santos would take classes in the truck, while working security outside testing centers. “I would listen in on mute so that you couldn’t hear the truck running and then hit the space bar to talk when it was my turn.”  

After about 18 months working on full-time orders while going to school, she was happy to return to campus and to a sense of normalcy in fall 2021. She declared her major in kinesiology with the guidance of Professor Matthew Delmonico, who served as her advisor and helped steer her in the right direction – even encouraging her to pursue URI’s accelerated Bachelor to Master’s program. Having dropped to four classes per semester while on orders during COVID, Rosario De Los Santos credits Delmonico with helping her to make up time.

“He’s been very helpful to me in making sure I get the exact classes I need to get my degree, and to graduate on time – and to move ahead with graduate courses as well.”

She began a year-long internship at Performance Physical Therapy as an exercise specialist assisting patients recovering from accident, injury or surgery with their physical therapy program. She enjoyed the interaction and getting to help the patients. “I liked it a lot – getting to know the patients and helping them bring more mobility back into their daily lives,” she said. “To be able to help them rehab, to be able to help people and see how grateful they were – it brought that good feeling.”

Rosario De Los Santos also dove into ROTC, declared a minor in military science and leadership, became an active member of the URI Student Veterans Organization (SVO) and began work study with the URI’s Center for Military and Veteran Education (MAVE). While she had been involved with ROTC and the SVO previously and found it a positive experience, she was now able to dedicate more time to them.

“I was no longer full time with the Guard,” she said. “Even without work study, I would be here (at the MAVE) but now I had more time to put into these other things and be more involved.”

Between the SVO, MAVE and the ROTC, Rosario De Los Santos had found her people. “I’ve met and been introduced to so many people through the SVO. They’ve connected me with resources that have been helpful, or that I can use later on down the line – it is just a great community,” she said. “These are people you can hit up, and they will be there for you–friendships, life advice, mentorship–whatever you need. I would rather be here than anywhere else. ”   

Taking service to heart, through kinesiology Rosario De Los Santos got involved with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Newport during her senior year as a research assistant to Professor Mark Hartman working with families to incorporate fitness into a regular routine and make exercise fun. She also began working as a resident assistant at Butterfield Hall.

Without a doubt though Rosario De Los Santos’ favorite part of URI has been her involvement with the SVO. She called out specifically Marland Chang, a current URI graduate student who served as president of the SVO when she arrived as a freshman, and Tracy Santos, current SVO president, and wanting to follow in their footsteps as a mentor.

“I feel like they’ve set the standard and I have to follow,” she said. “I have to fall in. It’s only right.”

Rosario De Los Santos will walk across the stage to obtain her diploma with the College of Health Sciences on May 20. She will be commissioned as an officer in the Army National Guard on May 18. This fall she will continue at URI and is on track to attain her M.S. degree in kinesiology in May 2024.