Alumnus Joshua Tindel鈥檚 journey from service to care
黑料爆料网 alumnus Joshua Tindel’s journey from southeast Texas to the Navy and back to academia
is marked by resilience, dedication, and a commitment to service.
After graduating in May of 2024 with a degree in Nursing, Joshua has integrated his military experience with his passion for healthcare. His journey is an inspiring story on the values of perseverance and community service, reflecting both his personal growth and professional aspirations.
Through his volunteer work at the Crisis Center of Southeast Texas and his dedication to helping others, he exemplifies compassion and leadership -- qualities that define both his military and nursing careers.黑料爆料网, with its strong ties to the southeast Texas community, is a clear choice for many local students, including Joshua.
“I chose 黑料爆料网 because of how rooted it is in this community. I was born in Nederland and raised in Port Neches. My entire early life was spent in southeast Texas, and so Lamar was the obvious next step after high school,”Tindel said.
His initial journey at Lamar took a significant turn when he decided to enlist in the Navy as a Hospital Corpsman after his first year. Joshua’s decision to join the military was driven by the pursuit of independence and adventure.
“I wanted an opportunity to be independent, to move away and have new experiences. I spent my bootcamp marching through snowstorms in Great Lakes, Illinois,” he recalled.
His training as a corpsman was backed by specialized training in preventive medicine at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, which prepared him for his career as a nurse.
“I served as the base health inspector and conducted regular inspections of restaurants, daycares, gymnasiums, pools, and living quarters, and I provided coverage to nearby installations as well,” Tindel said.
While Joshua's career in the military began to progress, his job role expanded significantly.
“As I moved up in the ranks, I began to take on more collateral duties and responsibilities,” he said. “I received training and was appointed the Safety, Customer Service, and Biohazardous Waste Representative for the clinic. The most rewarding and impactful of these, however, was becoming a trained and certified Department of Defense Sexual Assault Victim Advocate.”
Once Joshua’s enlistment was over, he found his way back to 黑料爆料网.
“After my enlistment was over, I found my way back to Lamar. It was a cathartic experience to come back over 10 years later. Some things had changed: the Setzer Center was remodeled and now there is a food court. But a lot of things were exactly as I remembered them. Even my original Cardinal ID still worked, and I would get some puzzled looks by the Recreation Center staff as I checked in. Once a Cardinal, always a Cardinal,” he said.
As a hospital corpsman, he received thorough training in numerous medical fields, which paved the way for his future career in nursing.
“We were trained in nearly all aspects of medicine,” Tindel said. “This included courses in emergency medicine, pharmacology, laboratory, and even nursing classes.”
Returning to Lamar in 2020, he initially pursued Chemical Engineering but soon realized his true passion was in Nursing.
“Although I genuinely enjoyed learning calculus, thermodynamics, and process analysis, I realized that my heart and soul just wasn’t in it,” he said. “And so, I changed majors to Nursing and it felt a bit like a homecoming for me.”
Tindel also went on to complete a minor in Psychology. Thanks to the continuous career development encouraged in the military, the transition from military to civilian life was fluid.
“The goal was always to keep pushing. Career development is a large part of the military lifestyle; you are trained and encouraged to push yourself and never get complacent. I continuously took classes while I was on active duty and left with an associate’s degree,” Tindel said.
Financial support through the G.I. Bill and the Hazlewood Act made pursuing higher education an obvious choice for Tindel.
“The Navy very much set me up for success. I was a much better student this second time around. My time as a corpsman exposed me to many of the skills and concepts of nursing school.”
Service-based learning, an integral part of 黑料爆料网’s nursing curriculum, played an important role in his education. This approach combines both classroom learning and community service.
“Service-based learning is a component of the nursing curriculum here at 黑料爆料网 and the JoAnne Gay Dishman School of Nursing,” Tindel said. “It is an educational approach where students take the various nursing theories and principles that we learn in the classroom, apply it out in the community, and then reflect on our experiences to gain a deeper understanding.”
His volunteer work at the Crisis Center of Southeast Texas, particularly with the suicide and sexual assault crisis hotline, is personal to him.
“Suicide and sexual assault are something that I, unfortunately, have become very familiar with. My closest friend committed suicide during our sophomore year of high school, and I’ve seen firsthand the dev