How Military Veteran Angel Delatorre Found Psychology

Like many Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) graduates, Angel Delatorre '25 didn't have a traditional college experience. She actually started her degree while serving her country.

“I did two years on and off of school because I was not a full-time student as I was in the military,” Delatorre said. “I just did the last two years full on.”

After such an eventful path to earn her degree, she knew she wanted to mark her accomplishment at Commencement — so she made the trip across the country from California to New Hampshire. “I had to come here, and I had to celebrate,” she said.

From Service to School

Delatorre, who served as a parachute rigger in the U.S. Army, said she was in and out of school for a time while active duty.

At the time, she said she had a sergeant who encouraged soldiers to go to school, so she started checking out her options. “I was doing a lot of online research, and I was getting a lot of positive feedback about SNHU,” she said.

When she told her sergeant that she was considering SNHU, Delatorre's sergeant encouraged her to move forward.

While enrolling, she said she immediately noticed how military-friendly SNHU was. “SNHU absolutely understands the needs of military members,” Delatorre said. “I was a little bit confused about my GI benefits, and I was able to contact the military service providers within SNHU.”

Once she got pregnant, she said she left the military and had her son. At that point, she noted that returning to school became her goal. She said SNHU made the process of returning to college easy.

“I didn’t have to do anything extra,” she said. “They already had all of my information, and I just jumped back into school.”

Finding Psychology

Delatorre started her degree studying criminal justice — but said she quickly realized that psychology was a better fit. “I feel like psychology actually found me,” she said. “I found myself reading a lot of psychology books in my spare time.”

At that point, Delatorre said she decided to make the switch and major in psychology with a concentration in forensic psychology.

“It was more my calling,” she said. “As soon as I did that, I felt like every single course was aligning with what I was doing in life.”

And academic advising was there to support her along the way. “I ended up having two academic advisors, and I honestly loved both of them,” she said. “They were so helpful.”

Now that she's on the other side of the finish line with her degree in hand, Delatorre said she feels different.

“I feel like since starting at SNHU, and now that I'm graduating, I've changed so much,” she said. “Through this entire journey, I would say my psychology degree is worth it.”

Mars Girolimon '21 '23G is a staff writer at Southern New Hampshire University where they earned their bachelor's and master's, both in English and creative writing. In addition to their work in higher education, Girolimon's short fiction is published in the North American Review, So It Goes by The Kurt Vonnegut Museum & Library, X-R-A-Y and more. Connect with them on LinkedIn.