By Erin Reid P'01,'05

Ariel Stark ’06 has spent the last two decades serving the United States through military leadership focused on space operations, acquisitions, and intelligence. Today, she serves as the User Needs Branch Chief at the National Reconnaissance Office in Chantilly, VA. She credits her ability to balance multiple responsibilities to Hotchkiss. “At Hotchkiss, I had exposure to performance levels I had not imagined on my own.”

Stark attended Hotchkiss to build on her strong academic performance in elementary and junior high school. “A close family friend, Danielle Ferguson ’97, introduced me to the idea. Attending Hotchkiss was a tough decision between building on my academic success from the comfort of my home in Brooklyn and building from an unfamiliar territory, Connecticut, via boarding school.”

She credits Hotchkiss’s curriculum as the foundation for her undergraduate studies and career, both of which are heavily focused on engineering and technology. In Lakeville, she learned how to balance academics, athletics, and her campus social life. She aced AP calculus and “survived” AP French and chemistry. “Similar to Hotchkiss, the Air Force also values education, physical fitness, and robust social skills in its service members,” she said.

Stark has many fond memories of Hotchkiss. “My advisor, Letty Roberts P’12,’15, welcomed me with open arms like family. I loved competing in track and field and basketball. Dr. Kirby P’08,’09,’14,’15 was an amazing coach and an inspiration. I learned a great deal from each event I attempted with varying levels of success until achieving my varsity letter for javelin, thanks to Ms. Nicholson’s awesome guidance,” she said. 

Stark’s time with Hotchkiss athletics led to a track and field scholarship at Tuskegee University, where she graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering. She signed up for the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps at Tuskegee. “The first cadre member to approach me was Lt. Col. English, living the legacy in his flight suit in a building named for the esteemed General Daniel ‘Chappie’ James. History shows that Tuskegee Airmen joined the Army Air Corps, but if the Air Force had existed, they would have started there as I did.”  

She was awarded a Presidential Scholarship at Tuskegee, but the ROTC program offered her a full scholarship, including room and board, and guaranteed meaningful employment for at least four years. “I went on to pitch this same package deal to high school students during my first active duty assignment as a Gold Bar Recruiter.”

Stark served as a summer intern at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which expanded her interest in space exploration and, more tangibly, developed and honed her coding skills. She later earned a master’s degree in operations and project management from Southern New Hampshire University.

In her former role as the deputy for the Department of the Air Force Tactical Exploitation of National Capabilities (TENCAP) Space Division, she delivered U.S. Intelligence Community-inspired capabilities to improve space operations, such as missile warning, space domain awareness, and satellite communications. “My time as a space operator within Air Force Space Command directly correlates to the U.S. Space Force Mission Delta 4: ‘Execute global missile warning, missile defense, and battlespace awareness operations to defend the homeland, protect human lives, support the Joint Force, allies, and partners, and bolster space superiority against adversaries anywhere in the world.’ The familiarity made my decision to transfer services and join the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) relatively easy, and I’ve enjoyed witnessing where our service has expanded beyond my wildest dreams.”

The NRO is a vital and joint member of the U.S. Intelligence Community and the Department of Defense. Its primary mission is to design, build, launch, and operate America’s intelligence satellites and overhead reconnaissance systems, providing policymakers and military commanders with real-time global intelligence.

In her current work at the NRO, Stark says the most challenging aspect is learning the many “exquisite” satellites, constellations, networks, capabilities, and systems, leveraging rapid-acquisition expertise. “I’m part of the 18-member Intelligence Community, where I’m afforded the opportunity to improve operations from the source. I appreciate my team’s support and the organization’s robust catalog of training opportunities, which help me perform at my best. I’m excited to see what’s next and envious that I’m not younger in my career to see more unfold before retirement,” she said.

She took from Lakeville a strong academic aptitude and the desire to learn more and incorporate more activities to find balance. “I trained under world-renowned pianists—the Witkowskis—and performed piano in the Amalfi Coast, Italy. Some of my greatest friendships were forged on the Lakeville campus and continue to this day.”

She is also a sanctioned bowler with the United States Bowling Congress. “I’m pretty excited about my progress and the prospect of connecting with other alumni 10-pin bowlers that might be out there.”

Stark appreciates the numerous opportunities to travel the world through the military in defense of U.S. interests and has served overseas in Greenland and in the United Arab Emirates as well as stateside in the Florida panhandle, central California, Denver, and Colorado Springs, to name a few. “As I near retirement eligibility, I sought an assignment closer to the East Coast where my story began.”