Christina McGregor joined the Air Force in 2002, hoping to make it her career. Two years later, an injury during a deployment led to a medical discharge and an unclear future.

Her husband remained in the Air Force, so she and their three children spent the next decade following his career before settling in Las Vegas in 2014 when he left the military.

“We tried several business ventures, including real estate and flipping homes, but it wasn’t fulfilling,” McGregor says. “I knew I wanted to go into social work and that I wanted to serve, but I didn’t know how.”

Then she found UNLV’s Master of Social Work program. As part of her graduate studies, McGregor completed her practicum with Peer Advisors for Veteran Education, or PAVE, a student support program that helps ease the transition to college life.

“Destiny put everything in my path,” she says. “I learned about PAVE at the student veteran orientation and immediately asked if they had room for me to do my practicum there.”

She also joined UNLV’s student veteran organization. Now as Rebel Vets president, she is advocating for a dedicated veterans lounge.

“My goal is to make sure veterans know they have a safe space,” she says. “If someone goes unseen, or if they don’t have that support system — we know what happens. Getting involved in any organization opens doors you didn’t know existed.”

Once she earns her master’s degree in the spring, McGregor hopes to pursue a Ph.D. and eventually set up a nonprofit focused on veterans experiencing homelessness. 

“I love the therapy side of social work and getting to help individuals, but I think I can make a bigger impact behind the scenes changing how the policy works,” McGregor says. “If you want to disrupt something, you have to do it from the top so it trickles to the bottom.”