TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- It takes a dedicated individual to be a teacher, but for some people it comes naturally.
Staff Sgt. Stephanie Cassidy is one of four instructors charged with molding Airmen into first-line supervisors at Tyndall’s Airman Leadership School.
As a child, Cassidy moved around a lot. Her dad was in the Air Force so she never really had a place that she called home. He had always encouraged her to join the Air Force. After a couple of years of college and a few years in the civilian work force, she realized he was right all along.
“I just did what I knew,” Cassidy said. “To me, the Air Force felt like home.”
After enlisting, she came to Tyndall as an air traffic controller.
“Air traffic control was fun, but hard,” she said. “I loved the adrenalin rushes throughout the day and the challenge. That’s what I was missing before I joined. It’s still probably the craziest best decision I’ve ever made.”
Though Cassidy loved her role in air traffic control, she was selected for the special duty of ALS instructor after only a few years.
“I think I’ve always been a teacher at heart,” she said. “The most rewarding thing about my job is the lasting mentoring relationships that I have made with my students. I still have students email me and ask me questions. I also like to do what I call wellness checks where I contact them just to see how they’re doing.”
She has been teaching Airmen at Tyndall’s ALS for more than a year now, and while it is not the same as air traffic control, it is still very fast paced and rewarding, she said.
“Cassidy has been amazing,” said Master Sgt. Nicholas Kehoe, the commandant of Tyndall’s Airman Leadership School. “She has pretty much been my right hand. The instructors here are probably the most professional group of staff sergeants I have ever worked with.”
Outside of work, Cassidy’s is really focused on taking care of her family.
“I really enjoy going to the beach,” she said. “It’s my number one spot. But my hobbies don’t really center around me anymore. I have three kids, so they keep me pretty busy, but we try to do fun stuff like going to the pool or bowling.”
In the classroom, Cassidy likes to remind her students of the power that they all hold to improve the Air Force.
“One person can make a difference,” She said. “It starts with one person in each shop. You shouldn’t be afraid to be that one person.”