Every day, Briana Brady ’25 (CAHNR) gets up at 5:30 a.m.

She packs school lunches and snacks for her two children, gets their backpacks ready, and gives them breakfast.

She squeezes in a shower for herself, puts the kids on the bus to school, and then drives an hour and a half to Storrs.

“I live all the way in Plymouth, over by Waterbury, so it’s three hours of driving a day,” Brady says. “And sometimes I’m only here for one class, so I drive more than I’m actually in class.”

In the afternoons, she races back home to get her kids off the bus.

Then there’s softball. Basketball. Wrestling. Dance. Clubs and carpooling. Dinner.

When everyone is fed and relaxing before bedtime, Brady tries to do some homework before she crashes out for the night herself – getting ready to do it all over again the next day.

It’s been her routine for the last two years, and it hasn’t always been easy for the Natural Resources & the Environment major and New Jersey native, who has spent the last 18 years living a nomadic life.

A U.S. Coast Guard veteran, Brady spent six years in service that took her all over the country. She’s been stationed in San Francisco, Virginia, South Carolina, and Maine. She spent months in and out of Alaska, patrolling the Bering Sea and stopping in some of its ports.

Alaska is where she met her husband, who is still in active duty with the Coast Guard. They came to Connecticut when her husband was transferred five years ago.

While serving in the Coast Guard, Brady was a Boatswains mate third class – expected to be capable of serving in nearly any job on a vessel, an expert in seamanship and navigation, a leader responsible for the safety of their crew.

“I did a lot of navigation,” she explains. “A lot of chart work. A lot of driving of the boat.”

In some ways, she hasn’t stopped serving in that role even though her time in the military has ended.

‘I don’t want to just get a job to have a job’ 

She’s still navigating things, still driving the boat. And still living on the water.

After earning an associate’s degree from Three Rivers in Norwich, Brady applied to UConn’s College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources. She knew she wanted to do environmental work, but found her calling when she took courses on water resource management and geospatial technologies.

“I think water is insanely important,” she says. “Water resources are everywhere, so anywhere I have to move, there’s water. And I just want to feel good about what I’m doing – I don’t want to just get a job to have a job. I want to feel good about it.”

She continues, “I think that we don’t consider how we contaminate our resources. The things we add to water are hard to filter out and sometimes go undetected for a long time. And then we drink this, and we give this to our kids, and we don’t think twice. We assume it’s clear. Even if we live in U.S., there’s still poor water quality in places, and I think people take it for granted.”

She found willing mentors in several UConn professors and, in addition to her classes and at-home responsibilities, has been working in the campus’s Water Quality Lab after taking a course on green stormwater management, where she helps to build sample kits that are used in the lab’s well testing outreach program.

“I go to events, collect samples, and talk to people about why it’s so important to test your well water,” Brady says, “because sometimes you don’t even know what’s in it.”

Brady’s been a welcome addition to the lab, says Michael Dietz, a water resources extension educator and director of the Connecticut Institute of Water Resources who oversees the lab and the well testing program.

“Although she is a nontraditional student with family responsibilities at home, Briana puts in outstanding effort in her courses,” says Dietz. “She does this work with humility and without complaint. It has also been wonderful to watch her confidence grow through her career as a student. I will truly miss her presence and her warm wit when she graduates!”

And graduation is imminent for Brady – she’s set to wear the cap and gown and walk in her commencement ceremony this May, earning her bachelor’s degree from UConn.

Taking care of a family as a full-time student

It’s something that still doesn’t feel real, she says.

“I can’t even wrap my head around it, because I have papers and finals and projects to do,” she says. “I just look at it day-by-day. I can’t think about what I have to do too far in the future, because it’s overwhelming.

“So, I just keep trucking away. And then sometimes I look back, and I’m like, whoa, how did I do that?”

She did it by getting plenty of sleep. By trying to exercise. By drinking a ton of that precious water, she says, and paying a lot of attention to what she eats.

Taking care of a family as full-time student taking five-to-six courses a semester? It’s been extremely challenging.

“I try to balance it as best as I can, but sometimes it’s like, ‘Mom, can you get off the computer?’” she says. “And I’m like, ‘I have a lab due. I’m so sorry, but it’ll be worth it.’ And I think they know it.”

Her efforts haven’t been lost on those around her, including her professors.

“Bri is a highly dedicated individual, not only as student, but also to her family. She definitely gives a 100% to both,” says Morty Ortega, an associate professor in the Department of Natural Resources & the Environment. “Bri has a real passion for the environment – the more she learns about it, she then passes that to her children.”

‘If you think you can’t do it, just do it’ 

This summer, Brady and her family will be making what she hopes will be their last move, to Pennsylvania, which is closer to their extended families. Her husband has about five years of service left in the Coast Guard.

While her life as a nomad might be ending, her life as a student likely isn’t over. She hopes to pursue a master’s degree once her family is settled while also entering the workforce.

Her advice for other students – those who have taken a traditional path to college, or those, like her, who’ve had a different journey?

Just do it.

“If you think you can’t do it, just do it, because chances are that if you are determined and motivated and disciplined, you will get it done and you’ll get it done well,” Brady says. “It’s mental, and you just have to take that chance and go for it and apply. Don’t be scared.

“It’s very intimidating, especially for someone who has a ton of responsibilities. But I don’t regret going forward. At all.”