This Graduate Wants to Keep Saving Lives
Nathaniel Gonzalez arrived at USF not knowing how to swim. After graduation this month, he aims to join the Navy Seals.
“The goal is first special forces, then med school,” he said.
The Texas native and chemistry major was one of three lifeguards honored at a civic ceremony in February for saving the life of a longtime Koret member who suffered a heart attack in the pool. He was the first one in the water and performed CPR for more than 10 minutes until paramedics arrived.
Being honored for his actions as a lifeguard felt surreal, said Gonzalez. Until working as a lifeguard, he hadn't known how to swim.
“I just never really learned,” he said. “But I was paying for my own tuition, and when I checked out jobs on campus, lifeguarding was the best paid.”
So he enlisted a friend to teach him and learned over the course of a weekend in the Koret Center pool. By the end of his sophomore year, he was a lifeguard instructor who oversaw most of the in-house basic first aid/automated external defibrillator (AED)/CPR and lifeguarding courses for Koret staff. “It just came pretty easily to me, and I loved the people I work with,” he said.
After commencement, Gonzalez is heading home to El Paso for his sister’s high school graduation and then he’ll be lifeguarding all summer — and preparing for his next role, one that has been inspired by his experience at USF and his family.
“My grandpa and his four brothers were all in the Navy, and my uncle was in the Army,” he said. “My family deeply believes in service.”
He’s taking the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) exam in early August. The standardized test helps determine eligibility for enlistment and potential career paths, and identifies strengths and weaknesses in various subjects including verbal, math, science, and technical skills.
“The goal is to score high enough to test into special forces and join the Navy Seals,” Gonzalez said. “Stay there for five to six years, then apply to medical school. I used to want to be a neurosurgeon, but now I don’t plan to put myself into a box so early. Who knows what I’ll be interested in by that point? When I started at USF, I didn’t know how to swim, and now it’s basically my job.”
And what a job. It gave him the opportunity to save a woman’s life — and enabled Gonzalez to pay off his tuition last month.
