“Girl, go join the military.”
That’s what Marriler Wilson G’25 told herself before enlisting in the Air National Guard after struggling in college. “I honestly had no direction of where I wanted to go in my life,” Wilson says. “I decided I wanted to do something bigger than myself.”
The decision led to six years of service with the security force at the Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, New York. In 2018, she joined the New York Police Department as a traffic enforcement agent and spent more than five years dealing with parking scofflaws, uncooperative drivers and moving traffic for emergencies and major Big Apple events. “Traffic is really a hot mess in New York City,” Wilson says. “It is what it is, but I learned from it.”
When she was in the Air National Guard, Maxwell School graduate student Marriler Wilson G’25 was deployed to Washington two days after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol to patrol the perimeter of several federal buildings.
After a return to college, Wilson earned a bachelor’s degree in public administration from CUNY Medgar Evers College and set her sights on Syracuse University. With an interest in foreign service and diplomacy, she enrolled in the dual graduate degree program in public administration and international relations at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.
For Wilson, Maxwell’s ranking as the nation’s top public affairs school and the University’s reputation as a “best place” for veterans drew her to campus. “I thought, ‘This is perfect—a No. 1 school, a great veterans’ program, and it’s not too far from home,’” says the Brooklyn native.
At the heart of Wilson’s personal philosophy is a strong desire to make life better for others, inspired by the values and supportive community she grew up in, where family and teachers played a big role. “Looking out for your fellow human beings has been ingrained in me since I was young,” she says. “Public service to me is making sure that everybody has, if anything, the bare minimum not just to survive, but thrive.”
Embracing the Maxwell Experience
Wilson (center) listens to a student presentation in a defense strategy class taught by Professor Robert Murrett. Along with her work in the dual graduate degree program in public administration and international relations, she is pursuing a certificate of advanced study in security studies.
At Maxwell, Wilson has explored different avenues of local, state and federal work, and fine-tuned her belief in civil, open-minded discussions to resolve conflict. She’s attended a public management conference with M.P.A. classmates and landed a prestigious Rosenthal Fellowship that led to a 2024 summer internship with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)—an independent federal agency that seeks to reduce global poverty through economic growth.
As an intern with the MCC congressional public affairs office, she wrote video blogs on MCC compacts that fund clean water initiatives and improve education for women, attended meetings, visited Capitol Hill with a general counsel and met with CEO Alice Albright. “I was honestly blessed that I got the Rosenthal Fellowship,” she says, crediting Adam Crowley L’10 of the University’s Center for Fellowship and Scholarship Advising for his assistance. “I was ecstatic because I’ve never had a scholarship or any type of fellowship like this before.”
Wilson enjoys some time with classmates as a participant in the Maxwell-in-D.C. program last semester.
Last semester, as a participant in the Maxwell-in-D.C. program, Wilson welcomed learning from all the “top-notch” professors and took courses on economic statecraft and public diplomacy in the 21st century. She credits Professor Lionel C. Johnson, who serves as president of the Pacific Pension & Investment Institute, for being influential in her time at Maxwell as well as Professor Robert Murrett, a retired U.S. Navy vice admiral, for his teaching and support, including writing her scholarship recommendations. “I want to soak up all their knowledge,” she says.
This semester, Wilson is an intern with the U.S. Department of State’s Virtual Student Federal Service. She’s working under the guidance of Eric Aldrich, diplomat in residence for the New York/New Jersey region, and is focused on information targeting veterans and learning about the career track of a foreign services specialist in diplomatic security.
Paying it Forward
As a student veteran, Wilson has taken full advantage of the opportunities available to her through the Maxwell School and the Office of Veteran and Military Affairs.
As a member of the University’s student-veteran community, Wilson calls the National Veterans Resource Center a “home away from home.” She’s been involved with the Student Veteran Organization and, through the Office of Veteran and Military Affairs (OVMA), has attended a national conference in Nashville, Tennessee, and a career immersion trip to Boston. She especially values the support network of the OVMA, which honored her with a 2024 internship award. “They’re trying to help me make sure I get the resources and tools I need to thrive here,” says Wilson, who also received a scholarship from SoldierStrong, which helps post-service veterans move forward in life.
For Wilson, the support at Syracuse has been a game changer. She believes it’s important to have “your team around you” and take advantage of all available resources. “Whatever career path I follow, I definitely have to pay it forward and support OVMA and Maxwell in any way I can,” she says. “They’ve supported me throughout this entire journey, and it’s been amazing.”
