Former Army Ranger Amick Returns to the Classroom

Trey Amick has never seen himself as a “normal college student.”

Born into a military family, Amick followed his father and grandfather into the U.S. Army, enlisting as a high school sophomore and graduating a year early. He was stationed at Ft. Benning, Ga., where he was an airborne infantry ranger – something, he said, he was thrilled to do because he “always wanted to be the guy jumping out of airplanes and helicopters” and later at Fort Detrick, Md.

Amick said he never thought he would go to college straight from high school. He spent seven months in Iraq working as a security contractor for an intelligence reconnaissance team, then worked on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., training congressional staff to prepare for biological/radiological chemical attacks. While working in D.C. full-time, he also found time to earn his associate’s degree at Lord Fairfax Community College in Virginia.

After earning his associate’s degree, Amick said he “knew it was time to get to work” on his education. He enrolled at Winthrop, he said, because the size allows students to “have relationships with professors, not just be names.” He has plans to attend law school after graduation, but he hasn’t ruled out redeployment or working for the federal government in intelligence – all areas of interest to Amick, a native of Orangeburg, S.C., who now lives in Fort Mill, S.C.

“I just do what I do; it’s what I’ve been drawn to,” Amick said.

Trey at a Glance

• Concentration: Senior majoring in political science, minoring in sociology

• High School: James Wood High School, Winchester, Va.

• Additional Campus/Community Activities: Member of Pi Sigma Alpha (Political Science Honor Society) and Alpha Kappa Delta (Sociology Honor Society); works as technical supervisor in the Rutledge Visual Resource Center (the Mac Lab)

• Future plans: Law school and work in military justice, possibly the Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps; redeployment; working for federal government in intelligence