Driven to serve

Serving others is in Samantha (Scharper) Oberfoell’s heart and soul. It’s why she chose to major in criminal justice, enlist in the military, join the Army Reserve Officer’s Training Corp (ROTC) program, and minor in military science, psychology, and event management.

“I always knew I wanted to serve, so that’s why I joined the military,” Oberfoell said. “Knowing that I can give back both in the criminal justice field and in the military is really the route I wanted to take.”

Oberfoell (’24 criminal justice) is fulfilling that professional promise to herself with the 2/34^th Infantry Brigade Combat Team in Boone, Iowa, where she is a signal communications officer. She is responsible for overseeing signal and communications for the brigade’s seven battalions. Signal includes anything related to communication, such as phones, printers, routers and switches, the internet, cloud computing, and more. It’s her job to keep the brigade’s communications network running smoothly and efficiently, ensuring the troops have access to important information at all times. It may not be the kind of job Oberfoell envisioned for herself when she was younger, but it certainly fulfills her desire to serve others.

Dreams of an FBI agent

As a middle schooler in her hometown of Osage in northeast Iowa, Oberfoell set her sights on being an FBI agent. As she continued through high school and Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC), Oberfoell sought out advice and guidance from advisors and FBI special agents about how to make her dream a reality. All agreed that a criminal justice degree was a solid foundation for her goal.

After transferring to Iowa State, Oberfoell added ROTC to her criminal justice major, which she found to be excellent academic companions.

“The curriculum that you learn in the criminal justice degree and in the ROTC program really do align, like critical thinking and leadership. The skills that I have learned help me both on the civilian side and the military side,” she said.

Oberfoell appreciates how the criminal justice major brought out her creative side and enhanced her critical thinking and communications skills.

“I was able to really hone in on my communication skills, which helps me now in the career that I’m in and will continue to help in the future,” she said. “Also, being able to do research and analyze different topics, that’s something that really sticks with me.”

Impactful internship

As an undergraduate, Oberfoell worked as an emergency management intern with the Story County Emergency Management Agency. Here, she put her critical thinking skills and love of research to practice as she led a reunification project for Story County. The project assumed that an imaginary mass casualty event occurred at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, and Oberfoell was tasked with creating a plan for connecting people with their families and emergency personnel.

“If something were to happen there with 60,000-plus people on the ground, how are we going to reunify these people with their families and also get them resources and people that can help?” Oberfoell said.

The project took two years for Oberfoell to complete. Once finished, the Story County Board of Supervisors adopted it in 2024.

“There are always revisions that happen … but the plan that I helped provide to the county is what they’ll use if something were to happen, as kind of a baseline,” she said.

Military career path

Following graduation from Iowa State in spring 2024, Oberfoell attended the Basic Officer Leadership Course for six months to become a signal officer in the Army. Upon returning to Iowa, she joined the Iowa National Guard Joint Operations Center as a geographic information system (GIS) specialist in Johnston at the Iowa National Guard Joint Force Headquarters, where she provided updated maps to military personnel or law enforcement for various projects and missions.

Six months later, Oberfoell began working at the Boone Armory in her current position as brigade signal communications officer. In addition to managing all the communications equipment for the brigade, Oberfoell is also the project officer for the launch of a new radio system and computer application that the Iowa National Guard is receiving. She is responsible for making sure the new equipment trained on is set up and functioning properly.

“This has been a new fielding (roll-out of equipment) for Iowa, but it’s been in the Army for four years,” she said. “So, we’re just getting it now, which is very cool. I get to spearhead that as well for the brigade.”

This aspect of Oberfoell’s job requires prolific communication and coordination with all the brigade’s battalions. She also works closely with Iowa’s Force Integration Readiness Officers as well as the property book officer, who oversees all the equipment in the brigade.

“We all work together to make sure that the fielding happens smoothly, that it happens efficiently, and everyone gets the equipment that they’re supposed to get,” Oberfoell said.

Throughout her numerous work responsibilities, Oberfoell often finds herself leaning on the skills she developed as a criminal justice major.

“On the technical side, I use a lot of the critical thinking, communication, research, and analyzing skills I gained through various homework assignments and college projects,” she said.

Future career goal

While Oberfoell greatly enjoys her current position, she would love to be a criminal investigator someday.

“I don’t necessarily want to be a police officer or work for the FBI, but somewhere in between. So, whether that be at the state level, the local level; whether that be on the psychology side; or whether that be the actual investigation of a crime scene,” Oberfoell said. “[I want to do] something where I know I can use the skills I’ve learned both in the military and in college to better serve the community as a whole.”