(Photo courtesy of Hillary LaFever-Ceja)Pre-med senior Hillary LaFever-Ceja joined the Army at 17 and was deployed in Iraq a couple years later. Now she is a full-time student and vice president of the Student Veterans Association on the Tempe campus.
At 19, she was sent to Iraq, where her area of operations, or AO, went from one of the safer regions during the conflict to one of the most dangerous.
"Being deployed was actually pretty awesome," LaFever-Ceja said. "But getting shot at wasn't."
LaFever-Ceja was born in California and joined the military to escape her hometown of Sacramento. She didn't see college as an option and decided to research different branches of the military.
LaFever-Ceja’s father, John LaFever, remembered the day his daughter told him she enlisted. LaFever said he was surprised when she signed up to serve.
“I never had to worry about Hillary,” LaFever said. “She was always a good student and always did her work.”
LaFever said LaFever-Ceja grew up playing baseball, but she always wanted to be a cheerleader. LaFever-Ceja is the middle child of three.
“It seemed so out of character for her,” he said. “When she joined, I was really proud.”
While LaFever-Ceja was deployed, LaFever received a phone call while he was working with race cars. He scrambled away from the loud sounds of roaring engines and tire screeches so he could hear clearly.
“In all honesty, I guess I was worried,” LaFever said.
A voice answered, but it was not Hillary’s. LaFever said he thought it was the army called to say that something happened to LaFever-Ceja as tears ran down his cheeks. To his relief, it was the service provider trying to connect the call.
“It messed me up for a while,” LaFever said. “I have resolve with my faith that always works out in the end.”
Pre-med ASU senior Hillary LaFever-Ceja stands in front of the Pat Tillman Veterans Center in downtown Phoenix on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014. LaFever-Ceja passed through the same doors when she came to ASU. (Photo by Jonathan Williams)The Twist
LaFever-Ceja graduates in May, but her road to a college degree has not been stress-free. She met her husband, Matthew Ceja, and had her two sons, who are 6 and 4, while on multiple short tours in the Army.
LaFever-Ceja was pregnant with her youngest child when she heard her husband died from Ankylosing Spondylitis. He had been struggling with the disease for a few years prior.
Melissa Wade is LaFaver-Ceja’s best friend and helped her when she got the news. Wade said LaFever-Ceja is one of the strongest people she knows.
“I was extremely worried,” Wade said. “(Matthew) was the world to her.”
Wade said when they were together, he was the only one she could talk about. She said it was a pretty rough time for LaFever-Ceja.
“She was depressed and shut people out from her world, but she got through it,” Wade said. “Everyday is still hard for her I can tell. ... To see your best friend go through that, I wish I could of taken the pain from her.”
Wade said she tries to convince Ceja to move back to Hollister, California, where she went to school, to be closer to her friend. The two went to high school together, but LaFever-Ceja graduated a year ahead of Wade.
Wade said she knew everything would be OK in the regardless of being worried all the time.
“She’s the strongest person I know,” Wade said, “and there’s no getting rid of her.”
(Photo courtesy of Hillary LaFever-Ceja)The Return
After her tour in Iraq and a few years of bouncing around, LaFever-Ceja decided to enroll at ASU to become an officer and set her on a path to her graduation in May 2015.
“If I don’t get out of school now, then I’m never going to go to school,” LaFever-Ceja said. “So that’s how I ended up at ASU.”
LaFever-Ceja began her journey at ASU when she was 25 years old. She joined the Student Veteran Association in spring 2012. LaFever-Ceja said the biggest struggle of being a student veteran was the age difference.
“I felt extremely isolated, because not only was I older than everyone, I had completely different life experiences than everyone else,” LaFever-Ceja said.
The SVA exists to help students assimilate back into society after a tour or multiple tours of duty in the service. LaFever-Ceja said she does the work, because she relates to them because “they are (her) people.”
LaFever-Ceja volunteered with the club to do community service as an officer in the organization. After some time, the president of the club graduated and the vice president took over. This is when Ceja saw her chance to become the successor to the former vice president.
“We just want the veterans to be successful,” LaFever-Ceja said. “We know they are capable.”
Last 3 presidents of SVA in order of succession with the SVA National CEO at 2013 National Conference(Photo Courtesy of Hillary LaFever-Ceja)
The future
LaFever-Ceja said she’s a little apprehensive about it, but she wants to get a master’s degree in public health.
“There’s people out there that go through far more that I do,” LaFever-Ceja said.
LaFever-Ceja said she hopes to work with veterans and she already works with many refugees from war-torn countries.
“You might have been on the other side of the war from what they were but it’s still war and you can still relate to them. ... That experience is very valuable,” LaFever-Ceja said. “I feel like you can connect with them on a better level if you have experienced war yourself.”
LaFever-Ceja said being a mom and being a student can be quite challenging but her kids mean “the world” to her. She said great time management skills have helped her through it.
Joanna Sweatt is an ASU alumna and a Marine Corps veteran. She retired in 2007 from the Marines and is active with the Student Veterans Association coordinating logistics while she works with the Pat Tillman Center. Sweatt said LaFever-Ceja is amazing to work with.
“At first glance, she’s a fireball,” Sweatt said. “When I learn of her story, I was amazed.”
Sweatt said their relationship is based on more of a student-teacher basis.
“You can really appreciate someone like Hillary,” Sweatt said. “In the end of the day, she just wants the world to be a better place.”
Reach the reporter at jwilli62@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @JonWilliams_23
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