With a last name like Sargent, a military career almost seemed inevitable for this Baylor alumnus.
Since his freshman year, Philip Sargent has been preparing through Baylor’s ROTC program and an internship at the Pentagon for the moment he would begin active duty as a member of the U.S. Air Force. But years of preparation and anticipation could not have prepared Lt. Sargent for the government shutdown that would abruptly halt his new responsibilities.
Sargent works as a manpower analyst and is based in Hurlburt Field, Florida. After graduating from Baylor in May 2025, he spent the summer interning on Capitol Hill before beginning active duty.
But on October 1, 2025, the federal government shut down, resulting in many government workers being furloughed — including the majority of civilian workers in Sargent’s office. Suddenly, his bustling workplace was practically empty, with almost the entire staff being furloughed.
“I’d been in the military on active duty for a month … I was still pretty clueless,” Sargent said. “A lot of the people I was relying on, learning from … were furloughed.”
The shutdown stretched on, lasting a total of 43 days and becoming the longest in American history. At least 670,000 federal employees were furloughed, and 730,000 continued to work without pay.
Although Sargent’s military status enabled him to continue working and receiving paychecks, that wasn’t the case for other Baylor alumni. They were suddenly living in a state of constant uncertainty, unsure what the future held or when their next paycheck would hit.
One of those workers was Madeline Alfonso, who, like Sargent, graduated in May 2025.
Alfonso did not doubt that Washington, D.C. was the place for her. With an interest in politics and an eagerness to experience the city’s hustle and bustle, she moved from Texas shortly after graduation. She took a job working for a Texas state representative.
After less than two months on the job, Alfonso was furloughed.
“Government in general is so hard because it’s unstable. Government shuts down, [people are] furloughed, things happen,” Alfonso said.
While disappointing, the initial weeks of the shutdown allowed Alfonso time to explore the city and settle into her new home. But as the shutdown dragged on, she began to feel increasingly nervous and restless.
“Transparently, I looked for new jobs because after three weeks, I was like, ‘This is not ideal, and I have really no idea when the government’s going to open,’” she said.
For Alfonso, like many other recent graduates working in a city as expensive as D.C., the loss of a regular paycheck evoked fear and discomfort. While searching for other opportunities, Alfonso took a part-time job working at a yoga studio to fill the time and supplement her income. But Alfonso wasn’t the only government worker who decided to look for a new job.
“Every single person in D.C. has the same idea. Then it became impossible to get any job,” she said.
When the government reopened after the 43-day shutdown, Alfonso returned to her position on Capitol Hill – but not for long. She started a new position shortly after, this time in the private sector. The shutdown made her realize she needed a job with more stability and, ideally, better pay.
While Alfonso was furloughed, other Baylor alumni continued to show up for work every day – even though they were not receiving pay. This was the case for 2023 graduate Hannah Zimmerman, a legislative aide for Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“It was definitely a little stressful, just not knowing when my next paycheck was going to come,” Zimmerman said. “The cost of living in D.C. is very expensive. A lot of people live paycheck to paycheck here.”
Although Zimmerman remained in office, the pace of her work slowed, giving her unexpected extra time throughout the weeks. She said her favorite accomplishment during the unexpected lull was reading 22 books cover-to-cover.
“That was a pretty big stress reliever for me, and a lot of my friends and coworkers think it’s pretty impressive,” remarked Zimmerman with laughter.
Despite the stress and anxiety, the shutdown couldn’t deter Zimmerman from the strong call she felt toward public service.
“It definitely was an interesting experience to go through, but it made me realize that public servants and federal workers are so important to … the functioning of our government,” Zimmerman said.
Even as months of instability played out in the headlines, some graduating students still chose to pursue careers in the federal government.
Clara Snyder graduated from Baylor in December 2025 and started working on Capitol Hill as a staff assistant for Congressman David Schweikert just two short months after the government reopened. As she considered her post-graduation plans during the shutdown, it would have been easy to rule out a federal government position. But Snyder saw it as an exciting challenge.
“The fact that it is the way that it is right now … makes me all the more interested in going to D.C.,” Snyder said. “I feel like all these unprecedented firsts, like the first 43-day government shutdown, even if it ends up being a more challenging environment to work in … that will make it all the more useful to my future career.”
Although Snyder knew that there was potential she could be, as she put it, “willingly throwing [herself] into a dumpster fire,” the pull she felt toward public service couldn’t be denied.
While the shutdown created stress and uncertainty for Baylor alumni working in government, they didn’t face it alone. Friends, especially fellow Baylor graduates, formed a support system during a deeply uncertain time.
“Pretty much all of the people in my [ROTC] graduating class, I keep up with,” Sargent said. “We were able to stay in touch, and they were kind of going through the same questions.”
Alfonso also found community among recent Baylor graduates who, like her, transitioned from Waco to Washington and were navigating the shutdown.
“It was comforting knowing that so many of my friends were in the same boat,” Alfonso said.
But alumni said the shutdown’s impact went beyond federal workers. While they worried about their own finances, many non-federal workers who rely on the government for essential needs faced the same uncertainty.
“I was really worried about a lot of neighbors and people that I knew,” said Zimmerman. “It wasn’t just government employees who were impacted. People who rely on SNAP benefits and WIC – all of those people were going without those benefits.”
For many alumni, the reason they stayed, despite the strain the shutdown put on them, was to serve people. If anything, they said the shutdown showed how vital these systems are and what happens when they start to collapse.
“You learn how much we depend on these mechanisms and that you don’t necessarily realize how much you depend until things fall apart,” Snyder said.
In this work, many of Baylor’s alumni have found more than a career – but a calling. A lack of certainty or a delayed paycheck couldn’t keep them from doing the service they see as essential.
“I’m an American citizen, and the purpose should be to support and serve the greater American people, and that should not be limited to a specific political party,” Snyder said.
But it was Lieutenant Sargent who put it best – Even when the government shuts down, “the mission never sleeps.”
