NORFOLK NAVAL SHIPYARD, Portsmouth, Va. –
Last month’s issue of Service to the Fleet contained a story about Norfolk Naval Shipyard’s (NNSY) Executive Development Program (EDP) Cadre 9, when they were still learning from their mentors and working on their online courses to finish strong in the program. The cadre included Nuclear Engineering and Planning Department (NEPD) Training Branch Head Matt DeLong (Code 2370), Engineering and Planning Department (EPD) Naval Architect Rachel Yarasavich (Code 254), Radiological Engineer Sasha Norfleet (Code 105.2), and Nuclear Zone Manager Aaron Jarman (Code 361). Since then, the students have finally risen as graduates as of Sept. 24, when they walked the stage and received their certificate of completion for the EDP.
Now that they have graduated, Jarman will be moving to Code 300N as a Zone Manager in Refueling. Norfleet will be working closely with McKenna in Code 1100 on special projects. DeLong will be going to work in Code 700 to work on special projects. Yarasavich will be going to Code 2301 as a Nuclear Job Planning Lead (NJPL).
Given the pandemic, one can assume the graduates’ path to their special day was not easy. A traditionally hands-on experience that involves a lot of travel and being in close quarters with many people, EDP had to create new opportunities that would keep the cadre and everyone involved as safe as possible without sacrificing the experience. “Those of us who have gone through the EDP had a lot of opportunities to go to different locations, detachments, shipyards, spend four weeks in D.C.,” said Danielle Larrew, who just finished her first year as the new EDP manager. “We kept hoping it would happen for this group, but it didn’t—but we did find opportunities for them to learn.”
EDP leadership decided that the next best course of action to afford the cadre was mentorship with senior leadership, specifically EDP Executive Sponsor Michael Zydron, Executive Director Fred McKenna (Code 1100), Nuclear Production Manager James Crunden (Code 300N) and Quality Assurance Director George Fitzgerald (Code 130). They were also assigned two projects: Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) distribution setup for COVID-19 and conducting a work/life impact study for those with school-aged children. Although some of the cadre members have said that they initially thought these projects were just busy work, they ended up learning much from them.
“Throughout our journey, we were given what we thought were little projects—busy work,” Norfleet explained. “What we didn’t realize however was that doing the little things in life is what truly matters. In the words of retired Adm. William McRaven, ‘if you can’t do the little things, you will never be able to do the big things.’ Those little projects we were tasked with were more than just that. They were preparing us for the big things to come, like changing the shipyard.”
DeLong added that the experience also changed them personally. He elaborated the program taught him the importance of three things and how they helped him to be successful in the program: flexibility, teamwork, and embracing his “people side.” “I’m not naturally flexible, I prefer to work predominately alone because I can guarantee the quality of my own work, and I tend to shy away from social situations,” he said. “With this pandemic changing everything however, I realized that I needed to change that and learned how to step out of my comfort zone to rely on my teammates and embrace my ‘people side’ to get the most out of social situations, such as the ones we had throughout the program.”
Yarasavich mentioned that the uniquely invaluable experience that the challenges of COVID-19 provided allowed them to focus their learning on the specific facets of NNSY collaboration. “Teaming with my cadre on our projects helped me understand the necessity of diversity of thought, personality, background, and life experience to function as a successful high-performing team.”
Moreover, the cadre’s experience in the program taught them that they do matter in the grand scheme of things and that they can make a difference. “I’ve always made the joke that ‘I’m just little ol’ Sasha,'” Norfleet said. “’If I left the shipyard, they wouldn’t remember me.’ What I learned throughout my journey was that I was wrong. I can create change and it does start with just one person. So if we want to make change together, every single one of us needs to come through those gates every single day with the belief that we can and we will. We need to respect everyone, be kind, take risks, and keep moving forward with our heads held high.”
“The overarching lesson that I learned this year is that it is vital to take care of each other as a community and always do the right thing,” Yarasavich said. “I feel that now more than ever that each of us as members of the NNSY family must embrace our diversity as force multipliers.”
Larrew and all the program participants pointed out that this year would not have gone as well without the mentors. “Our mentors have been greatly flexible throughout this whole program,” said Larrew. “We would not have made it through the year without them. There were other shipyards that shut their EDP programs down, so we were very fortunate that our group was allowed to continue for the rest of the program.”
“I’ve learned something from each and every single one of our mentors. This has been an amazing opportunity,” Jarman stated. “I’m looking forward to taking everything that I learned from our mentors and putting it into action.”
At the graduation, Shipyard Commander Rear Adm. Markle said, “You had to be flexible and we had to be flexible in order to get the greatest benefit from it. You did a fantastic job executing your way through that and I look forward to working with each and every one of you and see you succeed.”