Stories of the people who are Powering the New California
Performance, leadership, initiative and accomplishments. Those qualities put Air Force Tech. Sgt. Maria Avila in the national spotlight three times in 2007.
The most recent award for Avila, a staff member of Reserve Officers Training Corps Detachment 35 at Fresno State, is the 2007 Air Force ROTC Communication and Information Manager of the Year. The competition included
144 detachments, region and headquarters staffs
Avila was born in Madrid, Spain and came to the United State in 1996. She enlisted in the Air Force because she wanted to join a world-class military organization and pursue professional opportunities not easily available to women in Spain who wanted military careers.
She achieved her present rank in nine years of total service, while most people take 13 years to get the fifth stripe on their uniform.
Earlier last semester, the Air Force ROTC 3rd Quarter Non-Commissioned Award was presented to Avila and to counterparts in detachments at Cornell University, the University of Central Florida and the University of Puerto Rico.
She also was nominated for the Federal Women’s Program Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes her mentoring of more than 70 cadets from diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds and Avila’s off-campus community service work.
