CRANE, Ind. – When Christina Bizzell-Redden was a Senior in college in North Carolina, she wasn’t sure where her career would take her. In search of job opportunities, she attended a local career fair.
“I noticed there was a booth for a Navy intern program,” says Bizzell-Redden. “Initially, I wasn’t sure I’d be interested in working for the Navy, or what that would be like. I finally approached the booth to learn more and found they had a civilian program for new college graduates.”
Bizzell-Redden applied for and was accepted to the Naval Acquisition Development Program (NADP) for entry-level employees. She had never been to Indiana before and didn’t know anyone here in the state, but took the plunge and worked at NSWC Crane.
“I found that the program opened many opportunities,” says Bizzell-Redden. “I am happy I did it and would do it again.”
The program allowed her to work at NSWC Crane, as well as do two rotations outside of Crane in Sunnyvale, California and Bangor, Washington.
“I was able to have diverse working experiences, make different contacts, and develop relationships,” says Bizzell-Redden. “In my current role, these relationships and network are still important.”
Almost Nine years later, Bizzell-Redden is a Deployed Systems Support Logistics Lead at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane). She says her career at Crane has given her experiences she didn’t expect.
“I’ve been able to gain professional exposure at my job, present on important topics, bring people together for design reviews and provisioning conferences, and collaborate with engineering, technical publications, reliability and production.”
Bizzell-Redden says the ability to adapt has been critical to her success.
“I’ve learned over the years the importance of not dwelling on mistakes. You have to identify the problem and move on. Ask what you can do to mitigate problems and find solutions. You must learn from and appreciate your experiences to move forward.”
Though she started her career at Crane knowing no one, she says she wouldn’t trade her coworkers for anything.
“They are truly a team. You never hear anyone say, ‘That’s not my job.’ Everyone pitches in and helps each other. If a problem arises, we are a group of people who work together and adapt to solve it.”
NSWC Crane is a naval laboratory and a field activity of Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) with mission areas in Expeditionary Warfare, Strategic Missions and Electronic Warfare. The warfare center is responsible for multi-domain, multi- spectral, full life cycle support of technologies and systems enhancing capability to today's Warfighter.