Features
Mason Alumna Amanda Smialek Juggles Teaching and National Guard Duties
George Mason University alumna Amanda Smialek was teaching her fourth-grade students at John D. Jenkins Elementary School in Woodbridge, Virginia, when the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began. Smialek, a member of the 113th Medical Group with the Washington, D.C., Air National Guard, was called up the next day.
Smialek, a single mother of one daughter, has been juggling parenting, teaching or going to school and her work as an Air National Guard medic for a while. In the past, juggling meant being gone from her daughter a weekend every month. But since her unit got called up, she’s been balancing teaching and helping the troops guarding the Capitol.