As Kathleen Rock thinks back on her time at Byron High School, she doesn’t just remember classes and competitions. She remembers a community of mentors who helped her imagine more for herself—and then showed her how to pursue it.

Today, Kathleen is a surface warfare officer in the U.S. Navy, having recently completed her first tour aboard the USS Winston S. Churchill and now en route to her next assignment aboard the USS John Finn in Yokosuka, Japan.

“I’m about to start my second tour as a fire control officer,” she says. “That’ll take me to my five-year mark—my minimum service obligation after graduating from the Naval Academy.”

That’s right. Kathleen is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, one of the most competitive and prestigious institutions in the country. She was not from a military family. She wasn’t pressured to serve. She chose it—because she wanted to live a life of purpose.

“I was inspired by both of my parents,” she says. “My dad was the State’s Attorney in Ogle County. My mom worked as a journalist. I grew up watching them both serve in their own ways, trying to make things better.”

Kathleen moved to Byron in seventh grade, after her father’s appointment required a family relocation from Belvidere. The shift from a larger school system to Byron’s more intimate setting surprised her—but in all the right ways.

“I was a little worried that I’d have fewer academic opportunities,” she admits. “But what I didn’t expect was how meaningful the connections would be. My teachers in Byron were instrumental. They believed in me. They showed up for me.”

She rattles off names with fondness and clarity: Mrs. Riley, who welcomed her into student council the day she arrived. Mr. Palmer, her history teacher and speech coach who attended her commissioning ceremony at Annapolis. Mrs. McHale, her English teacher, who still meets her for breakfast when she’s in town. Mrs. Morgan, a retired math tutor and “pillar of the Byron community.”

Their encouragement helped her explore and excel—varsity soccer, golf, swimming, speech team, student council, class president. Kathleen didn’t just participate. She led.

She discovered the Naval Academy almost by accident—through a pamphlet in the mail inviting her to a summer seminar.

“I didn’t know how I got on their list,” she laughs. “But I went. I was amazed by the midshipmen. They seemed so focused, so intentional.”

By senior year, she had a decision to make: a Naval Academy appointment, or a full ROTC scholarship to a civilian university. “It felt foolish to turn down Annapolis,” she says. “So I went.”

Now two years post-graduation, Kathleen is serving with distinction, weighing whether to continue her military career or pursue advanced studies in law or public policy. “Eventually, I see myself working in government,” she says. “Maybe even running for office someday. I believe in public service. I believe in doing the hard things.”

That belief is rooted in a quote she carries with her—The Man in the Arena, by Theodore Roosevelt. It’s a passage all midshipmen at the Naval Academy are required to memorize. For Kathleen, it became more than a speech. It became a creed.

“The credit belongs to the one whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood,” she quotes. “Who errs, who comes short again and again… because there is no effort without error and shortcoming.”

For Kathleen, being “in the arena” isn’t just about military service. It’s about choosing to show up, to try, to risk looking foolish in pursuit of something better.

“You don’t listen to the critics,” she says. “They don’t count. It’s the people in the arena who change the world.”

From Byron’s student council chambers to the deck of a Navy destroyer, Kathleen Rock is still showing up—still leading, still believing in the power of a purposeful life.