Standout Spartan: Allison Langenburg '20

Congratulations to Allison Langenburg ’20, who on May 29 will take the Oath of Office and receive the title and position of second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. Ms. Langenburg majored in political science and minored in Spanish and Japanese at the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA). 

“Political science … seemed highly relevant to my desired (and now, ensured) job as an intelligence officer, in which I will take data on a situation and convert it to a briefing for an operational team,” said Ms. Langenburg. “I minored in Spanish because I enjoy the language and culture, and Japanese to become a more effective asset for political and military relations in the Asia-Pacific.” 

Ms. Langenburg is a member of the USAFA Martinson Honors Program, which allows cadets passionate about learning to engage in discussion and deep understanding of material that otherwise might be learned topically via memorization. “I found information more easily retained when I absorbed it this way,” she shared. “It also provided a forum for students to discuss their ideas about classical texts under the guidance of experienced teachers and mentors.” In one class, which she recently finished, “I was placed into a team of five cadets who endeavored to reduce food waste at USAFA. We generated an equation that could revise the way our dining hall purchases food to be dependent on cadet caloric needs. I love learning this way!”

Ms. Langenburg is the recipient of the 2024 Bradley Fellowship, which will fund her graduate education at the Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University's Graduate School of Government, where she will pursue her Master of Public Policy degree. “Within this program, I will pursue the International and Global Affairs degree concentration,” she noted. 

Intelligence officer training will prepare Ms. Langenburg to perform in her career field. “After our commission on May 29, many of us will enter a ‘tech school,’ where you learn the intricacies of your job, and this is mine. Intel officers are expected to be proficient ‘briefers’ (succinct, confident, and accurate public speakers), assimilate data, and convert the data into meaningful instructions for operational teams.”

Ms. Langenburg is thankful to Steward, which “consistently supported me throughout my time at the Academy. Life at a military academy can often be trying, and the occasional cards and well-wishes I have received, or that have been passed through my parents and sister (Erin Langenburg ’22), helped bolster me through hard days.”