Celeste Renoewick ’06

I joined the Navy to follow in my father’s footsteps. He spent over 20 years serving on submarines. Since I was a woman, submarines were not an option and I became a Navy Seabee. I joined in 1998 and had many wonderful adventures over the next 8 years. I served under two United States Presidents at Camp David, deployed to Spain and an island in the Federated States of Micronesia, and served as an instructor for the Advanced Engineering Aide class. After 8 fun years I applied for a commissioning program and was selected. In August of 2006 I became an Auburn Tiger.

At the time, I had one son who was 18 months old. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about Auburn, from the amazing instruction and professors, the friendly and beautiful campus, and the perfect surrounding city. Over the next three years, I attended classes full time year-round, gave birth to my second son in 2008, and graduated magna cum laude in industrial and systems engineering with a minor in psychology.

In 2009, I was commissioned in the U.S. Navy as an Ensign in the Civil Engineer Corps.
Since graduating, my 22-year Naval adventure has continued with tours at the Top Gun flight school in Nevada, where I was responsible for the maintenance and improvements of the base’s facilities. I was then stationed in California where I deployed to Kenya and Djibouti.

While deployed, I was in charge of constructing a local school addition and maternity ward. I then relocated to an Information Operations Center where I was the head of the Public Works Department for the more the 600-acre base. Following West Virginia, I was a construction manager for the submarine base in Kings Bay, Georgia. While there, I managed over $90 million in new and repair construction projects while leading the Facilities Engineering and Acquisition Department.

I am a single mother of 4 amazing boys, a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy, a registered professional engineer, and a proud Auburn University woman. War Eagle!