Alumni Spotlight: Gordon Schmidt '98

In our Alumni Spotlight series, hear about Wooster alumni - their lives and careers, meaningful experiences, and how Wooster impacted their lives.

Gordon Schmidt '98
Attended Wooster: 9th-12th grades
Post-Wooster: Attended Lehigh University for one year before going to the Naval Academy 
Career: U.S. Navy SEAL; retired October 2023
Personal: Lives in San Diego with his wife and two children
It’s Not About The Path… It’s About The Way

You spent 20 years in the Navy. What are some highlights from your career?

Every deployment was an adventure. I was deployed nine times, twice onboard a ship and seven as a Navy SEAL. The total time away was just shy of five years. I went to Afghanistan, Iraq, Africa and the Middle East, with an average of about 6 months each. 

In his 20 years in the Navy, Gordon spent 16 on sea duty and four years on shore duty. 

During shore duty, I got an opportunity to teach young SEALs in a combat leadership course. I really enjoyed teaching.

Did Wooster impact your teaching?

Wooster was great. There was a real emphasis on the learning process rather than just memorizing these dates for the test. It was more - ‘why should I care?’

[Ken Hansberry, his history teacher] told us, I don’t care if you remember the dates of this war. I want you to understand why it happened.

So, yes, Wooster impacted my teaching. I was a fan of that aspect of education that favored process over memorization of facts.

I established a theme to that course that surrounded the ‘why.’ ‘Why go to Iraq?’ ‘Why the war?’ ‘How does my training apply to what I’ll be doing?’ Wooster made me a critical thinker and that has served me well.

What are you doing now that you're retired? 

I’m parsing together some things in my post-Navy adventure. Right now as a side hustle I’m the guy who sources and operates privately owned vessels for military exercises, and I get to captain those vessels. I love the sea. Love being on the water. It keeps me connected to the community. But I am exploring other options that are more mainstream.

How did the words ‘Gentle Generous Truthful Kind Brave’ and Self-Help impact your life?

It’s amazing how applicable they have been in my military career. How valuable Wooster made me as a leader.

As an introspective person and critical thinker, I especially appreciate those values.

As for Self-help. I was not into it at first. Overtime, I saw the value in it, especially after seeing how other students valued it. The maturity really struck me. Kids were like, ‘no, this is what we do.’ It was a tremendous growth process for me. I railed against it at first, but came to appreciate it. And that was important. That growth was important.

What was your senior job?

I ran the Music Building. I fancied myself an amateur guitarist in high school. I wanted my little corner of the campus that I could run. I didn’t want to be a prefect.

Any advice you would give Wooster students?

It’s the small little daily lessons. For us, it was things like not walking on the grass… paying attention to detail.. jobs every afternoon. It was more so about the education I got than the college prep. In hindsight, I felt prepared for other things. The intangibles that you can’t educate in the classroom.

If you have a vision in your mind of where you want to go, there are a lot of avenues to get there, especially when it comes to colleges.

For me, I went to Lehigh first, before the Naval Academy. I joined the SEAL team but had to be on a ship first, and then reapply and became a SEAL. 

It’s not about the path, it’s about the way. I couldn’t have logically drawn out my path in high school. But the way…

Leave Wooster with a good understanding of who you are.

Have confidence in knowing that growth and development come from the unknown. 

I say that as I am feeling philosophical right now - trying to reinvent myself after spending my whole career in the Navy.