Easton High grad, trail blazer for women in U.S. military honored, honored
EASTON, Md. – The inaugural Mission Possible, Celebrating Talbot County Public Schools event was held Friday night, celebrating various alumni and supporting local teachers in in the district.
The mission of this event is to raise funds for teacher grant programs in the district’s Education Foundation.
Teachers from Talbot Public Schools apply for grants from this foundation to fund initiatives that are not included in the school budget.
The Education Foundation was founded back in 2016 in partnership with the Mid-Shore Community Foundation. Since then, it has funded more than $16,000 in grants for teachers including projects like hand-on life science, STEM with drones and outdoor classrooms.
At this inaugural alumni and teacher celebration, one alumni was honored for her work as a trail blazer, in the U.S. military – Retired Naval Captain Ann Stencil.
“The power of education was pretty phenomenal from Talbot County,” said Stencil.
She graduated from Easton High in 1976, and says she knew she wanted to be a part of the first class at the Naval Academy to integrate women, and she had a lot of support.
“My high school rallied and they encouraged me to apply… You had to go through a process, and my high school counselor and different teachers helped through that process by the guidance, so that I positioned myself and wrote the right letters to the right people.”
She remembered what it was like being one of the first women to break through that barrier.
“There was a lot of attention. Some was good attention, and some not so good attention. Integrating into any environment is not easy, but it made our class particularly strong.”
And then, another first. She became the first female Military Training Officer for an all male boot camp in San Diego in 1990. Stencil called the experience unique and phenomenal.
One story that stuck out for the retired Naval Captain was the work she did on aircraft carriers in the 80s, a time when women normally were not on those vessels, having to carry a sign to let male colleagues know there was a female in the restroom.
Today, there are women in command of U.S. aircraft carriers. And it goes back to women like Capt. Stencil who pushed the envelop.
“One little tiny contribution can cause an incredible wave to the future. So you never know how big that wave might grow, just from your tiny little contribution.”
Also honored Friday night were Otis Sampson, a member of the Affordable Housing Board for Easton for 12 years, and John Valliant who has served on the Board of Directors for numerous entities, like the Talbot County Chamber of Commerce and Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development.
