Megan Ronnfeldt

Year First Awarded the Carson Scholarship: 2012
Sponsored by: Pittsburgh CSF Chapter

Megan Ronnfeldt, a 2-time Carson Scholar first awarded in 2012, is a retired lieutenant from the U.S. Navy. Megan is from Natrona Heights, PA, and was accepted into the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD after high school. She graduated from the Naval Academy in 2017. She was then commissioned into the Navy and served globally as an intelligence officer. Megan holds two master’s degrees – a Master of Arts in organizational leadership from Point Park University and an MBA from Penn State University.

When recalling her time in the Navy, and what it meant to her, she shared, “Looking back at my time in the Navy, I am incredibly proud both to be an American but also be in the United States Navy and serve our country. From that experience I have all the utmost respect to those who continue to serve, continue to be deployed globally and be around the world away from their families. We obviously just came off the holiday season, so I’m thinking of my friends who are still active duty and overseas… just a lot of pride. Pride in their service, pride in our country, pride in what we were able to do as a team, and the teams that I was able to be part of during my time in [service]. These are my friends for life. I have lifelong connections with those I served alongside and continue to think so fondly of my time in the military. I am incredibly grateful for the time that I served in the Navy.”

After her time in the Navy, she participated in a corporate fellowship program at Salesforce. This program helps service members transfer from their military career into their next career. After completing her fellowship about two years ago, she started working for Salesforce, and now sells the Slack product with customers across the East Coast.

Community service has always been a huge part of Megan’s life. During her time at the Naval Academy, Megan started a non-profit organization called Barrels by the Bay. This organization takes 55-gallon Coca-Cola syrup barrels and converts them into rain barrels. The barrels are then donated to schools to educate students about the world’s water resources. Students paint the barrels and put them in a school garden or around their community. In the 10 years since Megan started the organization, they have worked with over 20,000 students across schools from seven different states. She also helps facilitate various service initiatives at her company, Salesforce – such as packing over 300 full backpacks for homeless students in New York City. Megan is also involved with veteran initiatives, such as arranging her company’s participation in the laying of wreaths at Arlington Cemetery for Wreaths Across America.

“Volunteerism for me is just something that fills my bucket, keeping me incredibly excited and engaged with different parts of the community. I am passionate about a number of causes. I always try to make time – when maybe there is no time – but I think that giving back is important.”

Megan remembers how impactful it was to be a Carson Scholar. She shared it was incredible to be able to meet other scholars and see what other students were doing. Being a Carson Scholar and going to the banquets allowed her to be exposed to different points of view and learn about the many projects that her fellow scholars were doing to make a difference in their communities. Megan’s advice to our current scholars is to be open to new experiences and push yourself because you never know where life is going to take you. You should have fun and be passionate about what you do.