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South Hills Community News Release
STATE COLLEGE — South Hills Alumna and United States Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, Karen P. Kramer, recently visited South Hills School of Business & Technology to give a motivational speech to students, faculty, and staff about her life journey and provide her keys to success.
Karen is originally from State College and graduated from South Hills in 1983. As a teen, she was faced with many adversities but credited the faculty and the time she spent at South Hills in helping her to turn herself around to lead her down a path of long-term success.
She shared one of her favorite quotes from author and motivational speaker, Jay Danzie:
Beginning each day with a smile is a priority to Karen, and she believes that first impressions are vital. She asked those in attendance to consider their impact on others and to think about the impression they would like to make.
Flexibility, resilience, and the ability to adapt to constant change are three traits that Karen feels are essential for everyone to develop. She discussed the importance of speaking with leaders for advice, feedback, and criticism to leverage their expertise and knowledge in order to learn and grow. Karen also stressed that team work plays a huge role in being successful as it is crucial to an individual’s success, a team’s success, and a company’s success.
Some of Karen’s first successes occurred while at South Hills, and she shared some of the things that motivated her while she was a student: someday owning a sports car and having her own money. She was proud to have graduated and been able to achieve those things, and she signified the importance of setting goals and doing whatever you can to achieve those goals.
Karen began her Air Force career when she enlisted in 1984. She spent 10 years on active duty as an F-15 maintenance scheduler. Today, Lieutenant Colonel Kramer is the Public Health Flight Commander, 88th Aerospace Medicine Squadron (AMDS), Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.
