Taking the road less traveled
STORY By Erin-Leigh Hoffman
Sierra Mason ‘26 remembers a poignant moment during her first-year ROTC orientation on a clear fall day while climbing Bear Mountain.
“These people are walking down the trail, and they see we're all in our army fitness uniform. It's very obvious who we are,” Mason explains, “So they stop us.”
Being stopped by strangers at that moment, Mason didn’t know what to expect, but what transpired has stuck with her. “They thanked every single one of us that walked by, and there were a lot of us there,” Mason explains with a somber tone.
At the top of Bear Mountain’s Thorne Hill trail is a monument of painted rocks and American flags memorializing soldiers who’ve been killed in recent conflicts – a fitting hike for ROTC orientation. Moments like these remind Mason that ROTC is bigger than herself, a fact she embraces wholeheartedly.
Mason grew up with her family in New Hampshire, where they moved to from Wyoming. Since a young age, she recalls always having a strong personality she sees in herself now. “I knew from the get-go that I was outspoken and a leadership-based person. I notice that it’s carried with me to who I am today,” Mason describes.
As a kid, her varied interests in several sports, music and language meant she was always taking on new challenges while also paving a path for herself; “I want to be different. I want to do something challenging,” as Mason puts it.
This determination to fill her time with new endeavors seems intrinsic – her modus operandi. Even when the end of high school brought some uncertainty, she knew she wanted to continue a college degree, and Mason had criteria for where she’d end up.
It had to have ROTC, Chinese had to be a course offering and it had to be outside of New Hampshire. When she came to Marist College for the first time, she said she just knew this was the place for her.
Illustration by Izzy Nuzzo
“I wanted to go somewhere new and New York was new for me,” Mason recalls. “I wanted it to be smaller, so Marist encompasses all of that.”
Since coming to Marist, Mason has been a leader amongst her peers in several areas across campus, in addition to her time with ROTC. In the music department, she is a member of the Marist College Band. She has a double major in criminal justice and global studies, she hosts a HIIT class and she spent a summer in Taiwan with the ROTC.
With a schedule like this and the weight of expectations, Mason has found times when managing is difficult. She describes it as a “balance” between holding oneself accountable to the standards set while also not burning out. “Finding that balance is still very challenging for me, and I'm constantly playing with it, seeing where that line is.”
To hold herself accountable for this balancing act, she has prioritized less screen time, meal prepping, affirmations, and reading to cope with quiet moments.
“It's accountability for yourself and showing up after the things that I've gone through,” said Mason.
To remind herself of this commitment to accountability, Mason had a dragon tattoo done after spending time in Taiwan learning more about the symbolism of the dragon.
“It represents perseverance and strength. I've had things in my life I've needed to overcome, and I think of it as my battle armor,” Mason says. She wonders if it may be “a little cheesy, but it genuinely is. It's a daily reminder of things that I've overcome and reminds me of who I am. I'm a strong, outspoken, strong-headed person, and that is what has pushed me through some of the hardest things in my life.”
The dragon flows down her arm with red petunias contrasted with a strong creature, a representation of her grace and strength.
Photography by Christopher C. Smith
Video by Rose Mayer and Christopher C. Smith