CAPT Andy Bishop ’89 loves to fly. So much so, that he joined the military with a dream of flying for the United States Navy. He knew the goal would require hard work and perseverance, but it was a challenge he was more than ready to take on.

Jump forward 26 years and Andy is at the end of his Navy journey, ready to share the lessons he learned along his storied military career. “One of the proudest days of your life is the day you get your wings, but getting those wings isn’t easy,” said Andy. “As I told my students, any monkey can fly, but how long do you have to teach the monkey? In the Navy, there is a set amount of time to train. It’s a military operation, so you either make it in that amount of time or you wash out.”

“I was a terrible flight student initially,” continued Andy. “I was a natural in the air, but had a hard time with memorizing procedures and putting two and two together. When you’re in the air, it’s like you are juggling 20 balls at once, which is impossible, so you constantly have to reprioritize and decide which ball can be dropped without a catastrophe. I had to teach myself how to do that.”

This kind of resilience is exactly why we chose to highlight Andy in this Perseverance issue of the Journal. Defined as the ability to change and respond to challenges in order to meet ambitious goals in our CULTURE OF CURIOSITY, perseverance is a mission skill Andy embodied throughout his profession. Shared Andy, “The world will conspire against you, in business or any profession - but most certainly in combat, if you don’t have the developed ability when the time comes to reprioritize in changing circumstances. Without perseverance, I wouldn’t be standing here today.”

His hands-on mastery of perseverance in flight training and subsequent fleet tour turned out to be an even greater lesson than expected when he was asked to return to flight school as an instructor, one of his favorite career highlights. “I aimed to engineer my students to be better than me and give them a leg-up,” said Andy. “I tried to paint a picture of what skills they’d need to develop in order to get through training. In order to do things you’ve never done before and master the skills you don’t have, you have to adapt and reach out for help.”

Andy credits his quick-learning, prioritization, and critical thinking skills to his time at Moravian Academy, where he enrolled in seventh grade. Recalled Andy, “I was sleeping through my classes in public school, so my parents decided I needed more of a challenge. At Moravian, I was parachuted into a totally different environment. In the end, I learned more about critical thinking at Moravian than I ever did in my four years of university.”

Andy spent the majority of his career in the cockpit, something almost unheard of in the Navy. In the near future, Andy plans to retire and start a new chapter of his life. Looking back on his cherished time in the Navy, Andy reflected, “It was an absolute privilege to serve. As excited as I am to do something different, it’s bittersweet at the same time. If I had to pay someone for all the experiences I’ve had, I’d have to be a multi-billionaire. There’s nothing that can match it."

This article originally appeared in the 2019 Moravian Academy Fall Journal.