Published: Nov. 11, 2024 at 10:26 AM EST |Updated: 3 hours ago CINCINNATI (WXIX) - Sitting in a classroom at the University of Cincinnati, Maria Simpson often found herself growing bored with school and Ohio. She was looking for a sense of adventure - something exciting that was not in her home state, but also helped those in need. The Peace Corps was an option, she thought. She would get to travel to a new place and provide humanitarian aide for a living, but she would hardly have any money saved once her service was complete. As she surfed the Internet for options to find a fulfilling future and career, Simpson found herself looking at the U.S. Coast Guard’s webpage. “I went to school for communication, but I didn’t really know what I wanted to do,” Simpson told FOX19 NOW. “I wanted to challenge myself. That’s when I started looking into the military and looking at all the branches, and that’s when I decided to join the Coast Guard.” Simpson, a West Chester Township native, ended up dropping out of UC her junior year of college, preparing herself for the Coast Guard’s eight-week winter boot camp in Cape May, New Jersey. “It was freezing,” she said. “Cape May was in the negatives.” Simpson says boot camp in itself was a “crazy” experience. Recruits were constantly being yelled at, they had to learn several different lessons per day, and on top of it all, they had to successfully complete the physical tests. While it was a complete-180 for Simpson, it was exactly the kind of challenge she was looking for. “At the time nobody believed in me, even my family didn’t think I would be able to [join the Coast Guard]. So the challenge to be able to get that far is what I liked,” she explained. Enlisting can be scary and intimidating for women, specifically during training because the Coast Guard is the only branch that conducts a co-ed boot camp. “I remember in boot camp, there were originally 19 girls, and the next day, 13 girls dropped out,” Simpson said. “I remember saying to them, ‘Stay, don’t quit,’ and ‘You can do this.’” Simpson believes they left early because they were scared, she explained, acknowledging that it is an intense process. Despite the lack of girls in her class, Simpson says she met some really amazing women, whom she still talks to today. “The girls that I have met, we’ve become really close. Over the years, we became like sisters because you’re the only ones that understand each other,” she said. Maria Simpson served in the U.S. Coast Guard for five years. (Provided by Maria Simpson)