There are a lot of different sides of my life, so I've broken this into a few areas to make it easier for you to scan through and find the part(s) you're interested in. But, this is all about my personal life. If you're more interested in my professional creds, you might want to check out my resume instead.
I spent six years in the Navy. I was a Hospital Corpsman (aka medic). For most of that time I was stationed at the Naval Hospital in Groton, Connecticut where I worked in the optometry clinic doing routine physicals for sub-school sailors and teaching submarine officers how to put contact lenses in their eyes. In the fall of 1987 I was on a medical readiness team that was deployed to the Persian Gulf for about 16 weeks. We were on temporary assignment to the USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7) and the USS Okinawa (LPH-3) during minesweeping operations. Some of the most interesting stories I have are from that time. I also went through Field Medical Service School at Camp Pendleton, California, and spent my last 18 months in the service attached to the 3rd Medical Battalion, 3rd Force Service Support Group on Okinawa, Japan. I was honorably discharged as an E5 (Petty Officer Second Class) in August of 1991.
I can't remember a time when I didn't love to sing and listen to music. I played tuba in the marching and concert bands in high school and bass in the jazz band. While I was in high school I also jammed a lot with other kids who played mostly rock. My good friend Mike and I put together a band to play a talent show once, but I never had a steady band.
While I was in the Navy I took up the guitar and started writing my own music. Most of it is pretty bad, but there are a couple of songs I'm still pretty proud of. I originally moved to Atlanta with the dream of going to college to become an audio engineer, but life happened instead.
Currently I sing bass in the church choir at St. Aidan's Episcopal Church and occasionally jam with various incarnations of the 50 Million Jabbles, but most of my rock and roll dreams are focused around my work with jabb. I am their webmaster, photographer, videographer, and live recording engineer. We have a lot of fun, and you should come check them out at one of their upcoming shows.
In the fall of 2003 I finally decided to go back to school and started working on my BA in History at Kennesaw State University. I had so much fun that I took my time and graduated with honors in 2009. While I was in school I wrote op ed pieces for the KSU Sentinel, and served on the Student Media Board. I also got very involved with KSU's Model Arab League and Model United Nations teams (more to come on that) and served as Secretary and then as President of the KSU Global Society.
I first got involved with the KSU Model programs through the Model Arab League team. During my tenure with the team I represented Algeria, Lebanon, Libya and the UAE. I won multiple Outstanding Delegate awards, and I also served as committee chair at both the Southeast Regional Model Arab League and the National University Model Arab League conferences.
Because the KSU Model Arab League and Model United Nations teams are under the same umbrella organization, I also got involved with Kennesaw State University High School Model United Nations conference. For that conference I served as Director General and Secretary General. I am still closely involved with the KSUHSMUN conference, and have served as the Director of the Press Corps for the last three years.
I have also become very involved with the Southern Regional Model United Nations conference. I've been an active participant for the last eight years, three of those years as a delegate. For the last five years I've been on staff serving as director of the African Union, Organization of American States, World Health Organization and General Assembly Plenary. This year I am serving as Deputy Director General.
You might have figured out that I tend to get very involved in the things I do. I mentioned before that I sing in the choir, but that's not all I do at church. I've been closely involved with Youth Ministries in my parish for almost ten years, have served on the vestry, been part of two successful search committees, and am part of the technology team responsible for maintaining the parish's computers and data/telco network.
And if all of that isn't enough, I am also a regular platelet donor, in fact I've qualified for the Red Cross's hall of fame for the last three years. If you are able to, I would like to strongly encourage you to give blood. The need is always huge.
This work by Jonathan Edman is licensed under a
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