As an Army brat, Octavia Hall has always been around public service. She spent most of her life in Germany bouncing around several bases. Hall said it was both her family and her community who encouraged her to serve.
“When I went out to the bus stop, I remember the soldiers coming over to talk to us about going to school, getting a good education, asking about our career goals. They contributed a lot to my wanting to serve,” Hall said.
As military families do, Hall’s family moved again, this time to Maryland. In high school she was active in cheerleading and a singing-show group she compared to the hit show Glee.
When graduation approached, Hall wasn’t interested in military service, but she knew there was a place for her on the civilian side. After receiving her diploma from La Plata High School, she was hired as a resource adviser at Joint Base Andrews. Hall helped families with child-care needs, career development courses and dual military spouses dealing with deployments.
“It’s always been instilled in me to help others in need,” Hall said.
Hall’s job at Andrews led her to her current position as the president of Local 1401 of the American Federation of Government Employees.
Listen to Hall share her views on public service:
2 Comments
They should change the name from public service recognition week to union steward recognition week. Leading a government employees union is in no way contributing to public service, unless local 1401 represents 300,000,000 Americans.
What Jim fails to recognize, along with many others, is that federal employees who also serve as union representatives are federal employees first. They often put thier own careers on hold as they help others in dealing with varied and complex issues associated with working for the federal government. In many cases, these highlighted federal employees not only contribute on the job, in their unions, but also in their communities.
Get over being a union hater and more of a contributor like Ms Hall and the tens of thousands like her.