Amanda Pelkowski’s story

Lieutenant Colonel Amanda Pelkowski is the commanding officer over UT’s Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps, her final post in a nearly two-decade career of military service. In 2001, Pelkowski was a sophomore in high school southwest of Denver.

Sept. 11 was her friend’s birthday, so Pelkowski’s father drove them both to McDonald’s for an annual birthday breakfast — a sausage McMuffin with eggs and orange juice, the friends’ tradition. The first reports she heard of a plane crash came on the radio in her dad’s car, and when she got to school, they watched the events unfold on TV. Pelkowski said shock and quiet reigned over the school. It was a day that changed her life.

“I’d always been interested in the military, but that really solidified that I wanted to do something to help,” Pelkowski said.

She’d go on to graduate from the Air Force Academy in 2008, motivated by the events that unfolded on Sept. 11.

“You just want to protect our way of life, and then when you’re seeing something get destroyed firsthand, it makes you really passionate about it,” Pelkowski said. “I was toying with the idea of going to a service academy, and that really solidified it.”

Pelkowski has since deployed to Iraq, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan, earning commendations including a Bronze Star. On 9/11, she does a stair climb in honor of those who died, including the firefighters who climbed 110 stories up each tower.

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