December 5, 2014
SOUTH POTOMAC PILOT NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR THE NAVAL SUPPORT ACTIVITY SOUTH POTOMAC DEFENSE COMMUNITY
Former Sailor thankful for Navy civilian career impacting Sailors and K-12 students with STEM Link directly to the NSASP Facebook page on your smart phone
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Dahlgren Drumstick Dash Page 2
By John Joyce NSWC Dahlgren Division Corporate Communications As Navy engineer Brandie Jackson reflects on Thanksgiving, she thinks of family and friends - and STEM. Jackson pursued science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), eventually becoming an industrial and systems engineer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD). Now, she motivates countless students to pursue STEM, college, and civilian careers in the Department of Defense. “I am most grateful for God’s blessings, my family, and my Navy employment which has provided me with many opportunities to excel,” said Jackson, who won the 2014 Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Member at Large Outreach Award during their annual conference in Los Angeles last month. The former Navy electronics technician discovered a
myriad of ways in her Navy government civilian career to share her knowledge as a STEM mentor. “As we celebrate Thanksgiving, I reflect on receiving the outreach award and the road to get here,” said Jackson in an interview Nov. 23. “I am thankful for the chance to mentor and encourage school age youth, their parents, and the community.” The Outreach Award honors a SWE member at large (collegiate or professional) who has made outstanding contributions toward informing school age girls, their parents, educators, counselors, or the general public of opportunities available in engineering during the previous year. The award may be presented to one member at large annually. “I was completely surprised that I was selected and very humbled to receive this award,” said Jackson. “The support and flexibility of my command allowed me to participate in various outreach programs to motivate others in reaching higher to achieve goals, as my family encour-
Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division systems safety engineer Brandie Jackson mentors an elementary school student in a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) project. A month after she was honored by the Society of Women Engineers with its 2014 Member at Large Outreach Award in October, Jackson - reflecting on Thanksgiving and the outreach award - said, “I am thankful for the chance to mentor and encourage school age youth, their parents, and the community.” aged me. I am blessed that I am able to share my knowledge and skills with others.” Jackson - who applies sys-
tems safety engineering principles and technologies to keep Sailors safe aboard warships - was honored for her
active participation in several STEM programs throughout 2013, resulting in a positive impact on students and adults. For example, she helped the National Society of Black Engineers Pre-College Initiative program achieve its mission to generate the interest of students (kindergarten to grade 12) in STEM; help students have a positive attitude toward academic excellence; encourage students to pursue degrees in engineering and other technical fields; increase the number of African Americans attending and graduating from college; encourage and support parental commitment to children’s education; and to raise cultural awareness among students. Jackson was also recognized for her impact on the Delta Sigma College Initiative created by the Virginia Northern Neck Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority to support the Delta Academy. “Delta Academy provides an opportunity for local Delta
See STEM, Page 4
Gray’s Landing galley gets a fresh food facelift By Zack Shelby NSASP Public Affairs
U.S. Navy photo by Zack Shelby
Joe Lonzanida, executive chef at Gray’s Landing, works the grill before lunch at the galley on Dec. 3. Since his arrival about a year ago, Lonzanida has spearheaded an effort to convert Gray’s Landing from a dining facility that uses mostly prepackaged foods to a place that now makes almost everything from scratch.
Prepackaged food has been scratched within the walls of Gray’s Landing galley at Dahlgren in favor of a fresher flavor. Joe Lonzanida, executive chef at Gray’s Landing, said he is responsible for the smooth and efficient operation of the galley and decided when he took the position a year ago that a change was needed. “My main concentration is the food aspect,” Lonzanida said. “When I first got here, they were making a lot of prepackaged foods heat-and-serve stuff. I’ve gotten down to basically taking all of that out and working with more fresh items and doing things from scratch. We don’t do premade lasagna’s any more. We don’t do premade
barbecue pork or anything else like that. We do everything from taking the cut of beef to making it whatever we need to.” Lonzanida said the metamorphosis from premade to fresh has been an ongoing process. “For the first six months or so, I was slowly trying to introduce new and different things and teaching the staff about cutting down whole chickens as opposed to getting everything precut,” he said. One of the challenges Lonzanida faced was trying to get the all-civilian staff of about 30 people at Gray’s Landing, now run by Morale, Welfare and Recreation, on board to a drastic change from the way they were accustomed to preparing food. “The biggest part, at first, was everybody being hesitant to the change,” he
said. “Before I got here, it was ‘this is how it’s done and it works and there are no complaints.’ But, once I got everybody on board, the kitchen staff started having a new sense of pride in what they do.” Now when somebody compliments them on their food, they can say they made it themselves as opposed to just taking it out of the box and heating it up, he said. “It was all about convincing them that it was going to be a good change for everybody,” Lonzanida said. Lonzanida’s stepfather was a retired chief warrant officer and mess management specialist in the Navy and he said he has been exposed to the cooking industry most of his life. He started cooking as a young adult
See Food, Page 7
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