NEW YORK, May 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- At a recent New York Mets home game, U.S. Navy veteran and current New School graduate student, Stephanie Andrews stood before a packed stadium as the "Veteran of the Game" — honored not just for her service, but for the quiet determination that has shaped every chapter of her life.

A former Navy cryptologist, Andrews was serving aboard the USS Bainbridge in April 2009 during the dramatic rescue of Captain Richard Phillips. She supported intelligence gathering and briefed commanding officers daily as her team worked alongside translators in high-stakes communications with Somali pirates. "It was two weeks of non-stop excitement," she recalls. "We were fighting pirates on the high seas, and it had a happy ending."

Now a master's student in History of Design and Curatorial Studies at Parsons School of Design, part of The New School, she is building a future in visual merchandising — drawn to the same clarity, structure, and beauty she once found aboard Navy vessels. "Even ships are beautiful in their own way," she says. "I've always loved beautiful spaces. I like the physicality of the work and the creativity behind it."

She credits The New School with creating an environment where she could thrive as a disabled veteran. "It's been such a supportive and collaborative place. Very different from my past university experiences."

Using her GI Bill benefits, she says she never imagined she'd end up at Parsons, a school she first knew from watching Project Runway as a kid. But since arriving, she's leaned into every opportunity — from Welcome Week to collaborative and interdisciplinary studio courses — and found a network that's helped her begin shaping her next chapter.

"I don't feel like I did anything that amazing," she says of her service. "I just did my job." But to those around her — in the stands at Citi Field and in classrooms across campus — her story is nothing short of inspiring.

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SOURCE The New School, Center for Military Affiliated Students