Greetings! As you may or may not know my full name is “Ryan Michael Kelly” but my friends and family just call me “Ryan”. Currently, I am a twenty-five year old Professor of Sociology at MCCC in Princeton Junction New Jersey, and a hopeful pilot candidate for both OTS & UPT with the United States Air Force!

Previously, I was a councilman for Lake Como New Jersey, a summer law clerk for attorney John Callinan, and a teacher for Monmouth County New Jersey. I am honored to have served my community and I now intend to serve my country well; I am currently competing for a commission in the United States Air Force.

In 2007 I received a Masters in Criminal Justice from Monmouth University, a Certificate in the Municipal Elected Officials Certificate Program at Rutgers University Center for Government Services, in 2005 I received a Bachelors from Colorado State University in the studies of Sociology, Criminology & Political Science, I attended law school at Thomas M. Cooley Law School, and I’m also a part-time MBA student at Colorado State University.

I was born in Dayton, Ohio on Wright Patterson Air Force Base and raised all over the continental United States. My father spent over twenty-seven years serving in the United States Air Force and with that came the privilege of living in many interesting places within our great nation. My home has ranged Ohio, Montana, Alabama, Nebraska, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, and New Jersey but naturally home is where the heart is. Of all these fine places I feel that I have enjoyed living in Albuquerque the most but for me Lake Como, New Jersey will always be my home.

Ever since I was a young boy I had always dreamed of flying. This passion was further fueled by the offset of an illness when I was three years of age. I had a double hernia and required surgery. It was not the easiest time of my life; in fact, I had to relearn to walk again. I can recall that when I awoke from my operation that someone had arranged for the thunderbirds to be hovering around my bedside. They ended up spending the day with me and wheeled me over to my window with the intent to later fly by my window so that I could see them during the air show which they were performing on Kirtland Air Force Base that day. The truth is, I will never forget this time in my life and it is events like these (not the movie Top Gun) which fueled my true passion for wanting to fly. It is my intent to learn to be a great person and develop the skills necessary so that I may have the same impact on someone just as I had once been given.

I come from a good loving family and have been taught many great morals such as loyalty, honesty, and integrity. My parents are “Colonel Timothy James Kelly” and “Phylis Jane Kelly”. I have a younger brother “Philip James Kelly” and an older sister “Denise Irene Bernard (Kelly)” and her two daughters (my nieces) “Regan and Riley Bernard”. I love my family so dearly and would do anything for them. May God bless them all, and may all our lives be protected so sacredly.