Military Service & College
Following high school graduation, Tom enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and served at MCRD San Diego, CA (boot camp), 29 Palms, CA (schools training); Camp Pendleton, CA (11th Marine Artillery Regiment) and Camp LeJeune, N.C. (2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion). A logistics clerk, Tom attained the rank of Sargeant and supervised 3 men. He completed nearly two years of night study at East Carolina University before completing his military service in 1982.
He earned a B.A. in journalism and political science (1984) and M.A. in public administration (1986) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At UNC, Tom covered politics and university news for the Daily Tar Heel (campus newspaper) and a small community paper in Graham, N.C. He contributed yearbook photography, building on an emerging passion for photography. He also served as a student manager to the 1983 NCAA champion women’s soccer and track and field team for two years. Before and during graduate school, he gained local government experience with summer internships in Salinas, Calif. (Monterrey County Local Agency Formation Commission) and the Town of Hillsborough, N.C. community development department.
“Covering politics as a news reporter spurred my interest in public service. I had the opportunity to cover the infamous Hunt-Helms senate race in 1984 and other races in the state that year,” Tom said. “When home in St. Paul in the summer of 1983, I volunteered on local St. Paul City Council campaigns for Republican candidates and found it energizing. My final year of graduate school required an on-site internship, so I worked for then-U.S. Senator Rudy Boschwitz as a casework intern in his St. Paul office.”
