In this recurring monthly special, Nonahood News will be featuring those who’ve graduated from Lake Nona High School and will recognize the achievements they’ve made since. Some will have been a part of the first graduating class. Others might have graduated a few years later. Few have stayed in the Lake Nona area, and many have explored the world or are still doing so. Let’s see where life’s journey has taken them so far!
Name: Kyle Herrera Name: Sandra Herrera
Age: 24 Age: 23
Year Graduated: 2011 Year Graduated: 2013
Occupation: Munitions System Journeyman, Occupation: Child Development
Military Center Assistant
Current Location: Aviano, Italy
This month’s stars are located just south of the Dolomite mountain range and about 45 minutes north of Venice, which makes them the envy of a lot of people and their ultimate travel goals.
Sandra: “We had always wanted to travel, and we said if we could choose where to live in Europe, it would be Italy because it is relatively central, which makes traveling easier. We are stationed in Aviano, which is in the northeastern corner.”
Kyle: “I was given a list of bases to choose from once completing training in Texas and was assigned to the 31st fighter wing here in Aviano, Italy.”
Sandra’s family moved to Florida when her father retired from the Air Force in England. They moved to the Nonahood in 2007, and her family is still here for the most part. Meanwhile, Kyle’s family moved to the Lake Nona area more than 25 years ago, and he was born here.
Mrs. Herrera’s goals for after high school were to get her degree, become a teacher (high school and then college), to travel and to get married and start a family. Another success out of Lake Nona High School.
“After high school, I got my degree from the University of Central Florida (UCF) in 2016, became a teacher within a month, and then within four months of that, I was married, and I am still traveling.”
While a student at Lake Nona High, Mr. Herrera’s ambitions were to attend a good college and play college-level sports. He was accepted into UCF after attending Florida Atlantic University (FAU) his freshman year of college. He was unable to play sports due to an injury during his senior year of high school but graduated with his bachelor’s degree from UCF.
I’m sure we all want to know how this young couple found themselves residing in a quaint Italian town with views of a mountain range that is so close to major cities. Kyle has lived in Aviano for a little over a year, and Sandra joined him on his journey about six months ago. The couple will reside in Italy until around May 2020 when Kyle’s contract is up. How did the Herrera’s Italian voyage begin?
Sandra: “After being a military brat for so long, I never really thought that I would get to experience that lifestyle again, and when I first started dating Kyle, it was still not really a for-sure lifestyle for us yet. Once he got accepted [into the military] and we got married, I was excited to be in that military family again. Overall, my journey was really simple. I worked hard in high school and graduated fourth in the class – that made getting into UCF really easy. I started dating Kyle the summer before my senior year, which was June of 2012. I graduated UCF with a 3.8 [GPA] after 3½ years and got my degree in Secondary Science Education. I taught at East River High School after I graduated until the school year was over. During that time, Kyle and I got engaged during Spring Break and married by a double proxy while he was back in Italy and I was still in Florida. After that, I spent the summer with friends and family and then moved to join Kyle and start our life together.”
Kyle: “I joined the military after completing my degree hoping to get into officer training school. I will be applying in 2018. I went to basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, for eight weeks. I then went to a three-month course at Sheppard Air Force Base, where I received training on my particular job. Here at the 31st fighter wing, I am currently working conventional maintenance, which entails building bombs, providing ammunition for the F-16s, as well as building countermeasure munitions. I [also] received awards for averaging above a 90 percent on my qualifying tests to progress in my career field and awarded coins from the group commander and base commander.”
Naturally, one is curious if they are speaking the native language. Parli Italiano? (Do you speak Italian?)
Sandra: “No! I want to, and I’m trying to learn it through exposure and Duolingo*, but it’s hard. Italians speak very fast!”
(*Duolingo is an app which helps users learn the language of their choice.)
Kyle: “We have learned the basics: the ability to have a short conversation and ask where things are. Things like directions, ordering food, and other basic questions.”
Having had the pleasure of knowing how beautiful Italy is myself, I had to discover what it was like to actually reside there and what locals do for fun in their new hometown.
Sandra: “Because I used to live in England, I had a sense of what living in Europe was already like. It is very rural, slower moving, smaller towns, tractors in the roads, markets shutting down streets type of life. In Italy, specifically, it is hard because not very many people know English, so communicating is difficult, but some words are similar, so we can make it work. But knowing that you’re in Europe and seeing a different way of life and a different kind of landscape is awesome. I knew that living in Europe would be amazing, but I had no idea that it would be so beautiful and scenic everywhere you go. I want to take pictures of everything here so I can remember it when we move back.”
Kyle: “Europe is amazing! Traveling is extremely easy and cheap. I am able to visit multiple countries within a few hours’ drive. The culture and lifestyle is much different than the States. The architecture here is magnificent. It’s everything I thought it would be. I’ve visited Slovenia, Croatia, Germany, Austria and Switzerland so far. I have a lot more places on my list.”
With traveling to nearby countries being so accessible, it must be difficult to resist the urge to visit a neighboring town. When the Herreras aren’t traveling, one might find them playing sports or getting creative.
Sandra: “I like to draw and paint and do little projects around the house if I am alone. If we are together, we like to travel, go outdoors and do things like go to the lake or rafting, but mostly we eat and try out new Italian cuisine for fun.”
Kyle: “On base, intramural sports are extremely competitive. I play on the base soccer team as well as the base volleyball team. I also play on the squadron soccer, flag football, volleyball and softball teams. Traveling is our most frequent activity seeing as Venice is a 45-minute train or car ride away. Slovenia and Croatia are also within a short driving distance, and we live five minutes away from the Dolomites, where we can go hiking in the summer and snowboarding in the winter.”
With so many accomplishments at such a young age, what are some current goals for you at this point in your life?
Sandra: “Right now, my biggest goal is to live up to the opportunity of being in Italy and travel and see as much as possible. I also would like to start my master’s degree, but finding an all-online degree for higher education is a little tricky, so I might have to wait until we are back in the States. [In the next five years] I would say, if we decide to stay in the military, then I see us somewhere overseas still and adapting to a new country and traveling more. If we move back stateside, then I would see myself teaching biology again and then thinking about starting a family at some point after we are both set with jobs and a home.”
Kyle: “Some current goals I have set for myself would be to win BTZ (Below the Zone), which involves beating out other airman who come in at the same time as me and ranking up six months earlier. Another would be to submit my officer application as well as paying off my student loans. Within the next five years, I hope to be an officer in the Air Force, hopefully stationed at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany.”
Yet, out of all of this couple’s successes, they consider each other one of their biggest milestones in life! (Swoon!)
Sandra: “We got engaged in March and got married in April. We decided to do a double proxy, which means we both send in paperwork to the state of Montana and they get two people to stand in as us at the altar to do the ceremony. We decided to forego a wedding and instead use all of that saved money for a really awesome honeymoon (which is still in a planning phase but we are thinking about a two-week trip to multiple countries in Asia). As far as wedding photos, we are going to get a dress and a tux and a photographer and take some really awesome pictures around the Italian countryside!”
Kyle: “A major milestone we got through was getting Sandra moved over here. We got a house and just recently bought a new car. She got a job working at the Child Development Center to add to her teaching resume. I have progressed at a good rate in my career field. I will be applying to start my master’s degree next spring. Well…our engagement wasn’t as romantic as we planned. Because I had to leave the States in a hurry, there wasn’t much of an engagement. But this winter/spring, we plan on doing a photoshoot in the mountains! We will be waiting to have a formal wedding until we move back stateside. We might also be getting a puppy here soon!”
Written for current and future Lake Nona alumni by a Lake Nona alumna. Check back in to our February issue to learn about our next Nona graduate(s)!
