Senior / Alumni Spotlights
Marissa Alverson '22
My name is Marissa Alverson, I graduated from Fremont High School. I went to college for 1 ½ years before joining the Army at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. While I was in the US Army, I became an Apache helicopter crew chief at JBLM, WA. During my time in the Army, I deployed to Afghanistan in 2017, and shortly after I went to Staff Sargeant School, and I switched roles becoming a Quality Control Inspector. This is where I first realized my love of safety. In this role, I had the opportunity to take on many safety related responsibilities. Not only was I inspecting and signing off crew chief’s maintenance, but I also oversaw Hanger Safety to include Tool Calibration and Corrosion Control program (This is important to ensure that the aircraft do not fall apart in flight) for 24 aircraft. During my time as a Quality Control Inspector for the Army, I was continuing my college education finishing most of my general studies to obtain my bachelor’s degree. After 7 years of Active service, I decided I was ready to go home. I looked for Occupational Safety Programs and found the GVSU OSH program. I then applied as a transfer student, and I was accepted! I would say I had a good head start coming into GVSU’s program and that helped part of my success, by allowing me to apply what I am learning in class to the real world.
I would say the key to my success was my internship in preparation
for a full-time job in the OSH career field. The internship also
helped define what industry I wanted to work in whether it was General
Industry, Construction, Medical, or Insurance. My favorite class
was Health and Safety Techniques OSH316 provided us with experiential
learning which helped us to see the applications in facilities around
West Michigan. I Graduated from GVSU in April of 2022 where I excepted
a full-time roll at Hunt Electric in Wisconsin gaining a lot of
experience in electrical safety. 2 years later, just like the saying
goes, I decided there is “no place like home” I then moved back to
Michigan where I am a full time Safety Coordinator for Rockford Construction.
We love hearing from our alumni, if you are interested in being
highlighted, please send a photo of yourself, a short bio, and a
statement outlining how you think your GVSU OSH Degree assisted you
in your career, to [email protected].
Interest Area(s)
Occup Safety/Health Mgmt
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