‘Fell in Love with This Place:’ Navy Veteran Finds His Place Helping Students, Veterans at UCF
Matt Winstel went from uninterested in going to college directly after high school, to serving in the Navy, and finding meaningful work ... at a university. Not sure what to do after high school, Winstel and a friend joined the U.S. Navy on the buddy program and "the rest was 26 years of Naval lore," Winstel said. A trip to visit family in Orlando turned out to be fortuitous when a friend brought him to the UCF campus in 2018. It just happened to be the day ESPN was set up on the Memory Mall for College Gameday during the school’s undefeated football season. “I walked around the campus and I got lost, and I fell in love with this place,” Winstel said. “I went back to California, was having a frustrating day and I simply did a search for UCF jobs and six months later I was on campus.” Winstel is now the Lead School Certifying Official at UCF, a job that lined up well with his experience as a pay and personnel specialist in the Navy. If a student wants to use their V.A. education benefits, they’ll come through the Military & Veteran Success Center where he has an office.
WKMG News 6