Air Force veteran, military spouse, and mother of two graduates with MTSU’s first physician assistant class

by Patsy B. Weiler

It was a bit surreal. A goosebumps moment. A day MTSU graduate student and U.S. Air Force veteran Maranda Vecchio had worked so doggedly to achieve. Yet, there she was, slipping her arms into a professional white coat—an important milestone on the challenging road to fulfilling her tightly held dream of becoming a physician assistant. The garment outwardly signaled that she had successfully completed her classroom studies and was prepared to start clinical training.

The Cannon County native and Woodbury resident is one of just 30 students in the University’s inaugural 27-month Physician Assistant Studies (PA) master’s degree cohort, which began in May 2022 and graduates in August 2024. Quite an accomplishment, considering nationwide only about 20% of students from thousands of applicants who apply to PA school are accepted.

View the MTSU Daniels Center’s 2024 Journey magazine

During the August 2023 “white coat” ceremony, it is safe to say, Vecchio had myriad thoughts and emotions swirling in her head.

“I worked so hard to get here,” said Vecchio, who at 35 is about a decade older than most PA students but undaunted by the gap. “I feel like being a little bit older, I have good life-balancing skills. There were times when I studied until midnight in the Walker Library, drove home to Woodbury [about 20 miles away], and was back up by 5:30 a.m. to start my family’s day.”

Vecchio specifically highlighted one important ingredient in helping her find success: “My military background provided me with grit, resiliency, and a determination to be successful.”

A Helping Hand 

The mother of two young daughters is quick to explain the important role the MTSU Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center played in helping her access veterans educational benefits that she had earned and that she needed for her PA program.

The Daniels Center is the most comprehensive veterans facility on any Tennessee higher education campus and provides services for over 1,200 military-connected students and family members. It is a resource for any veterans and their families, not just those at MTSU. 

Often during her educational journey, Vecchio said, she felt like she was walking along a winding (and frustrating) yellow brick road—only the Oz she was trying to find was someone to listen and explain the refusals she kept receiving regarding her military educational benefits.

Veteran Maranda Vecchio gave birth to her second daughter after starting MTSU’s Physician Assistant Studies program.

Not easily deterred, Vecchio took out a student loan to begin her studies while struggling to secure her benefits; but she was not going to give up on what she knew was rightfully hers.

“I am very competitive, and it was hard for me to hear the word ‘no,’ ” Vecchio said. “It was baffling to keep going in circles.

I already knew I was entitled to my benefits, and I was going to fight for them. I kept being told ‘We won’t pay for MTSU because it is a new physician assistant program and not accredited’—but MTSU was accredited. I made up my mind to somehow get to the bottom of the confusion.”

While on campus, the new PA student had heard about the work of the Daniels Center but was hesitant to reach out for help. She didn’t want to rehash previous attempts to resolve her benefits snafu. Instead, she volunteered at the center.

Hilary Miller, Daniels Center director, recalls when she first met Vecchio and how she was impressed with her servant spirit.

“Maranda, at heart, is someone who is always giving,” Miller said. “We met her when she was initially coming into our offices to volunteer, but then we learned she was having some issues with her benefits.

“She had been through multiple appeals for nearly four years, had a folder stuffed with paperwork that was an inch thick,  was starting a demanding new area of study and 8½ months pregnant—yet was somehow always willing to try to carve out time to help the Daniels Center.”

Her tenacity was evident when Vecchio gave birth 10 weeks into her PA training to her second daughter.

In quick order, the expectant mother (who likes to tell people there were really 31 people in MTSU’s first PA class) found herself in a meeting with Miller; Army LTG(R) Keith M. Huber, MTSU’s senior advisor for veterans and leadership initiatives; and Marie Patterson, director of the PA program.

Not familiar with the Daniels Center’s focus of freely helping veterans and their families, Vecchio remembers wondering how much she was going to be charged.

The answer, of course, is nothing.

“The Daniels Center didn’t know me. Everyone listened carefully, took my issue, and made it their own. They   treated me like I was family,” Vecchio said with a wide smile. “General Huber took it into his hands, and in a matter of two weeks I was reimbursed with all my money.”

The problem, it seems, boiled down to an information management oversight. The glitch was the result of a website that had not been updated to include Tennessee colleges with new PA programs.

These days, Vecchio is at the ready and eager to tell the story of the Daniels Center’s work.

“Veterans should know they are going to take care of you and respect you. The team at the Daniels Center does amazing work and saves so much heartache and stress for the veterans,” she said. “Dr. Miller’s door is always open.”

Vecchio has touted the center on very public platforms.  

For instance, she spoke at the MTSU Board of Trustees’ winter quarterly board meeting in December 2022. She also joined Huber on the WKRN-TV News 2 Local On 2 lifestyle show.  And she appeared on stage at the Grand Ole Opry, where the former staff sergeant was recognized, along with her  two daughters, during the show’s Opry Salutes the Troops event, hosted by Opry announcer Kelly Sutton.

“It was an honor to represent the Daniels Center,” Vecchio said. “I have the commemorative poster they presented to me on the stage at the Opry hanging on the wall in my home office.

“We had our own dressing room, a television where we could watch the Opry show, with lemonade and endless buckets of popcorn. My 5-year-old daughter Amelia wants to go back if she doesn’t have to go out on the stage.”  

(During the presentation, the little girl, overwhelmed by the cheering audience, shyly hid behind her mother.)

Living the Dream 

Huber described Vecchio as “the perfect example of my definition of a military hero.” An Air Force veteran, a military spouse, the loving mother of two young daughters, and a full-time grad student, “she clearly comprehends selfless service and sacrifice. She is unafraid to work tirelessly to provide a future for herself and her family.”

Her tenacity was evident when Vecchio gave birth 10 weeks into her PA training to her second daughter, Claire. Two short weeks later, Vecchio was back in the classroom. It was a hard decision to make, she said. But in the end, it was one that Vecchio said she knew would be worth the emotional sacrifice.

That sacrifice paid off after Vecchio started her clinical rotations.

“I am humbled and excited every day walking in the clinic and having patients trust me with their health. Building those relationships is amazing,” Vecchio said.

Reflecting on the journey to her future, Vecchio emphasized that she has a strong family and faculty support system in place to help guide her forward. She said her favorite part of the white coat ceremony celebration was the high-five she got from her older daughter, Amelia.

“I want her to understand that education is very important,” Vecchio said. “I am the first person in my family to graduate from college. She witnessed the sacrifices her mommy made, that you must study and work hard to be successful.”

Vecchio also spotlighted the role that “two amazing women” had in steadfastly encouraging her to stay the course. First is her mother, Melissa Phann, who quit her job to move in with her daughter to help with the children and do whatever was necessary.

My military background provided me with grit, resiliency, and a determination to be successful.

“She is someone I couldn’t do without,” Vecchio said.

Next is former CMSgt Ashley Strong, Vecchio’s sponsor (a sponsor is a trained service member who helps newcomers settle into a new duty station). At her first assignment as a dental assistant at Maxwell Air Force Base, Vecchio said, Strong gave her “a lot of direction and inspiration, pushed me to make a difference, and continues to be in my corner.” As proof of her inspired mentorship, Strong was one of just 12 airmen selected nationwide for the Air Force’s Outstanding Airmen of the Year recognition in 2017.

As her dream is becoming a reality, Vecchio says she is eager to combine her medical experience—as a dental assistant in  the Air Force and as a hospital radiology technician after being discharged from the military—with her PA training at MTSU  

to propel her “to make a positive difference.” She has promised herself to keep an open mind as she moves through various clinical rotations but said she is attracted to the Veterans Health Administration.

Vecchio may no longer be wearing a uniform, but she can still see herself serving her country—by caring for veterans. It’s something she witnessed firsthand at MTSU’s Daniels Center.