Learning Audacity: A Soldier’s Reflection on Veterans Day

By Sloan MacRae, November 11, 2026
Army specialist Nina Manau ’27 is bringing the confidence and initiative she develops in uniform to her health sciences education at Ithaca College.
A woman in a green U.S. Army uniform.
Courtesy of Nina Manau ’27.

Ask Nina Manau ’27 what it’s like to attend Ithaca College while serving as an Army specialist, and she’ll tell you she feels “a little like Kim Possible, going back and forth between two very different worlds! It goes both ways, too. I’ve had to tell my sergeant about an upcoming cheer competition, just as I’ve had to miss a game because of military commitments.”

Manau, a health sciences major (planned clinical concentration) in Ithaca College’s School of Health Sciences and Human Performance, is preparing for a career as a physician assistant. She expects to graduate in May 2027 and plans to continue serving in the reserves as a second lieutenant while attending PA school. In the meantime, as she puts it, “being a science student is definitely not for the weak!”

In the program for Ithaca College’s Veterans Day Celebration, Manau described service as “showing up.” Asked what she meant, she talked about the veterans at the celebration. “I always respect veterans because they do show up, they’ve seen things and they put their years and their lives into it,” she says.

Manau first heard about military service at home. Growing up in Manhattan, she heard her father tell stories about her grandfather’s service. Her older brother joined the Army, and hearing him talk about his training and how much he had grown helped persuade her to join after high school.

Manau had always been competitive with her brother, so when he told her she wouldn’t be able to do it, she took it as a challenge. She saw a chance in the Army to do work that interested her and make a difference.

“I always feel like I need to have some type of impact on what I’m doing,” she says.

Manau initially attended Cornell University, where she participated in ROTC. As her goal of becoming a physician assistant came into focus, she found the community and opportunities she was looking for at Ithaca College and transferred.

She wanted room for both health care and military service in her life. At IC, those two paths inform each other.

A woman in a cheerleader uniform with the Ithaca College logo.

Manau '27 is also an Ithaca College cheerleader. (Photo courtesy of Manau.) 

Manau says the Army has helped her think more quickly on her feet. When something goes wrong, she looks for a way to fix it. She’s still learning to speak up and get organized, whether she’s working on a group project or helping plan a club event. She pays attention to what needs to happen, who’s responsible, and whether everyone understands the plan.

It has also made the prospect of contacting someone she doesn’t know considerably less intimidating. Speaking with people several ranks above her has taught her that respect can go both ways. Reaching out about an opportunity—or encouraging someone to contact someone about an internship—feels more manageable when she has practiced doing it in uniform.

“I kind of learned audacity,” she says.

“You just have to go after it and get it. Like nobody will get it for you unless you take the actionable steps to do it.”

That growing confidence includes a clearer understanding of what she can do physically. She can deadlift 200 pounds and complete about 40 push-ups in two minutes. The sprint-drag-carry—a timed combination of sprints, sideways shuffles, dragging a 90-pound sled, and carrying two 40-pound kettlebells—remains a challenge. (Even someone who can deadlift 200 pounds is allowed a least-favorite exercise.)

Manau is still figuring out what service means to her. The Army has led her to think more about her own values and responsibilities, and she wants to keep asking how she can use what she’s learning to help others.

“As a student, a soldier, and a future medical professional, I’ve seen firsthand that service takes a lot of forms, but it always comes back to the same thing: showing up for people bigger than yourself,” she wrote in her Veterans Day reflection. “That reason will never change.”

Honoring Those Who Served

Ithaca College’s 23rd annual Veterans Day Celebration on November 5, 2026, honored veterans from the college and the greater Ithaca area, including Longview, a senior living community across from campus.

The program featured honored guest speaker Timothy Merritt, a retired Air Force technical sergeant whose 21 years of service included four tours in Iraq supporting explosive ordnance disposal operations as a munitions systems specialist.

Army veteran Arthur Ostrander, dean emeritus of music, served as master of ceremonies. The program also included a welcome from President La Jerne Terry Cornish and the presentation and retrieval of the colors by Cornell ROTC.

Musical selections featured the Treble Chorale, Trombone Troupe, and Cayuga Brass Quintet. Trumpet performance student Juliet Arau ’29 performed “Taps.” Manau’s written reflection appeared in the celebration program.