By rohan kakkar, diego armendariz and Grayson kirby
Peering over the Atlantic Ocean onto the glittering waters, towering boats, symbols of the military powerhouse that is the U.S., stand in fortitude, bearing the names of cities, states, ideas and people that have greatly impacted our nation. What one might not realize at first is that the intimidating ships above the water are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the U.S. Navy.
Not only does the Navy protect our seas from external threats, it also assists with Space and Ocean Exploration. Deep below the behemoths that dominate the world’s oceans, surveillance ships and submersibles seek to explore and map out the deepest and most isolated parts of the globe. One of these ships, a T-AGOS 26 ocean surveillance ship, is slated to be named after alumnus Victor Vescovo ’84. A former intelligence officer, he served for 20 years in the Navy before retiring and entering the private sphere of exploration. Vescovo has left a lasting impact on not only the Navy, but also the world of deep-sea exploration as a whole.
“I think my experience in the Navy helped refine a lot of skills that I applied to exploration,” Vescovo said. “I spent a great deal of time on various ships, including the USS Nimitz, and I think the military is a wonderful experience to help you learn how to deal with high-pressure environments because nothing is more intense then warfare.”
Vescovo’s journeys to the bottom of the ocean, the highest peaks on Earth and even into the depths of space have been challenging to say the least. Vescovo has constantly been thrust into uncomfortable situations that not only test his physical capabilities but also the limits of his mental fortitude and quick thinking skills.
Vescovo has spent years in leadership positions in high-pressure environments; he was a Commander in the Navy, and he has also launched the Five Deeps Expedition in 2018, a program whose goal was to reach the five deepest points in the ocean in one year. His team carried out biological samplings and depth confirmations at each stop. In December of 2018, he became the first person to reach the deepest point of the Atlantic Ocean, piloting a U.S. submarine system worth over $50 million.
“Exploration means you’re pushing the boundaries of knowledge and technology, and sometimes you’re doing so in dangerous locations,” Vescovo said. “You’re not going to come back if you’re not well organized or effective as an individual, because to be an effective explorer, you first have to be an effective person.”
With his years of experience in both the public and private sector, Vescovo has broken numerous records and completed incredible challenges in his goal to explore and understand as much as he can in his lifetime. He believes that his St. Mark’s education and experience allowed him to properly traverse the difficult path he has chosen.
“St. Mark’s teaches you how to learn and learn quickly,” Vescovo said. “If you can learn how to learn new material, critically, effectively and well, then you can pursue almost anything you set your mind to.”
Specifically, Vescovo praises the unique impact his former teachers had on him in his time at the school.
“There were so many teachers that had profound impacts on my development and development of my skills, from the extraordinary Tom Adams to Dr. Jones to Dr. Freeman to Mr. Stutzman and to Mr. Connolly,” Vescovo said. “There’s just this long list of extraordinary teachers that have all, in their own different ways, majorly impacted my ability to learn and understand certain material about English, science, mathematics and everything in between.”
While Vescovo’s experiences at the school certainly helped him in his journey, he learned how to be extremely adaptable and make changes when things were not working for him. When he was an engineering student at Stanford, he realized that this path was not for him and decided to make a change.
“There are absolutely unexpected twists and turns,” Vescovo said. “I think one just simply has to adapt on the fly, take advantage of opportunities that present themselves and always push yourself outside your comfort zone. It’s okay to fail sometimes, but that also means you’re going to have an opportunity to succeed and do things perhaps never done.”