{"id":43152,"date":"2026-05-30T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maderatribune.com\/single-post\/former-liberty-grad-flying-high-in-usaf"},"modified":"2026-06-17T17:59:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T17:59:01","slug":"former-liberty-grad-flying-high-in-usaf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/former-liberty-grad-flying-high-in-usaf\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex graduado de Liberty vuela alto en la Fuerza A\u00e9rea de EE. UU."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Four years ago, Skylar Hartley marched across the Liberty High School stage as one of its valedictorians and entry into the United States Air Force Academy.<\/p>

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Now, Hartley\u2019s four-year college career could be defined by lyrics in Kelly Clarkson\u2019s \u201cBreakaway.\u201d<\/p>

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\u201cI\u2019ll spread my wings and learn how to fly. I\u2019ll do what it takes \u2019till I touch the sky. And I\u2019ll make a wish, take a chance, make a change and break away.\u201d<\/p>

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Hartley officially graduates this week, and will now take some time before beginning the next chapter.<\/p>

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\u201cThe days are really long, but the weeks and months go by super fast, especially this year,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s crazy to be four years out of high school. I still feel a little sheltered. USAFA feels like a glorified high school because the schedule they demand of you and the timeliness of everything. The years have flown by.\u201d<\/p>

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Like the lyrics said, Hartley spread her wings and felt like she needed to head away, and is happy with the decision to go to the Air Force Academy.<\/p>

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\u201cI got to spread my wings,\u201d she said. \u201cI love the Ranchos, and it\u2019s really sheltered. I feel if I had gone to Fresno State, it would have limited my potential and capabilities. Going to college outside of state is really beneficial to your personal development.\u201d<\/p>

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She also helped others spread their wings as a member of the coveted USAFA Falconry Program. Only 12 cadets care, train and display the Academy\u2019s live falcon mascots at events around the country.<\/p>

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\u201cIt\u2019s the oldest club USAFA has,\u201d Hartley said. \u201cThey only take about four members a year out of 1,000 in the class. I saw them at Blue Rush, which is kind of club rush at the end of basic training. I like animals and this seemed cool. I wasn\u2019t sure if I would make the team. I was able to hold a falcon, which was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.\u201d<\/p>

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She joined the club in her freshman year, and has been with the club until this year.<\/p>

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\u201cOne of my favorite experiences was going to Orlando over Spring Break,\u201d she said. \u201cThat was to support a women in aviation conference. We were able to see all of these women that had an impact in aviation. Even though I wasn\u2019t a pilot, it was nice to see the USAFA grads that were there. There were a lot of military personnel and civilians.\u201d<\/p>

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She also got the opportunity to go to the Naval Academy for a football game with the program.<\/p>

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\u201cThat was a good opportunity to go to another service academy. We lost, though,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m really grateful for the falconry team. It\u2019s given me some of my closest friends. It\u2019s given me opportunities to develop myself and my skills.\u201d<\/p>

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Hartley will graduate with a degree in geospatial science after changing her major from political science.<\/p>

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\u201cI had a lot of opportunities with geo. It seemed a lot more interesting to me,\u201d she said. \u201cIt encompasses three parts \u2014 physical geography, human geography and spacial geography. It\u2019s remote sensing and working with satellites. I really enjoyed that.\u201d<\/p>

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She will graduate to a force support officer as a second lieutenant.<\/p>

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\u201cA force support officer has a vast amount of programs,\u201d Hartley said. \u201cAnywhere from youth programs up to mortuary affairs. It\u2019s a wide and encompassing job. My main job would be people and supporting people in Hurlburt Field in Florida.<\/p>

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\u201cBecause I\u2019m not a rated career, I only owe five years,\u201d she said. \u201cIf someone wanted to be a pilot, they would owe 10 years. It\u2019s because of the training they put into you as a pilot.\u201d<\/p>

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Once Hartley is done with graduation ceremonies this week, she will get 60 days of paid leave until July 27.<\/p>

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\u201cI\u2019ll start getting my second lieutenant checks, which is really nice,\u201d she said. \u201cSome people plan extravagant trips. I planned trips with my family and friends. I\u2019m going to Prague, do a cruise in Europe, and go to Japan in July.\u201d<\/p>

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Hartley will head home to the Ranchos to see some friends and family. However, her parents purchased a home in Monument, Colorado, which is close to the USAFA in Colorado Springs.<\/p>

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\u201cI love home,\u201d she said. \u201cI only see a handful of my friends. My parents come and visit quite frequently. It\u2019s mainly my family I don\u2019t get to see as much. I am blessed to have my parents out here a lot.\u201d<\/p>

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Hartley recommends looking into the military programs for those who are interested. There are also other courses one can take other than the academy way.<\/p>

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\u201cI tell kids you might as well try. There are opportunities in ROTC in colleges,\u201d she said. \u201cThey are able to commission as a second lieutenant while getting the freedom of a normal civilian college. Academy life is super hard. It\u2019s really difficult and it drains you. It\u2019s rewarding when you finish. You put in so much hard work for it. If you live your life with regrets, it\u2019s worse than failing to try.\u201d<\/p>

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Now, after three-plus years of hard and intense work, Hartley is looking forward to graduating, and tried to enjoy her senior year.<\/p>

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\u201cI cruised as much as they let me cruise my senior year. I had 15 credit hours at the school, which is the minimum. I had a light semester. I didn\u2019t have any finals,\u201d she said. \u201cMy freshman year was pretty tough. There\u2019s a lot of change that happens in the military. Typically, the freshman year is the hardest. My junior year was a struggle. I had to re-frame my thinking, and have a more positive note about it.\u201d<\/p>

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Despite the obstacles, Hartley is ready for the new chapter and is happy with the decision she made to spread her wings to Colorado Springs.<\/p>

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\u201cI would do this 10 times over. This was the best opportunity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":43125,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_angie_page":false,"page_builder":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[45],"class_list":["post-43152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-military"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43152"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43182,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43152\/revisions\/43182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}