Captain Antoinette Shields

• Military Branch: Army
• Hometown: Voorhees, NJ
• Institution: Neumann University
• Degree/Major: Doctor of Physical Therapy

Growing up in New Jersey, Antoinette Shields was both and an athlete and scholar who continually sought new challenges. Unlike most of her fellow high school classmates, Antoinette chose to become a member of something extraordinary when she accepted a nomination to the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Within ten months of graduation from West Point, Antoinette was deployed to Iraq, leading soldiers in war. She found herself, the only female officer in an Armor Battalion, earning a Bronze Star Medal for leading more than 100 convoys throughout Iraq’s Sunni Triangle, and commanding female search teams in over 50 battalion raids. Upon returning from Iraq, Antoinette visited her fellow soldiers at an Army hospital, sparking her to find her true passion to help others through physical therapy.

Returning to civilian life as a mother of two, Antoinette spent her free time taking numerous prerequisites for physical therapy school, working in an outpatient facility for a year and volunteering at a nursing home rehabilitation center, all in an effort to now pursue a Doctorate degree in physical therapy at Neumann University. Ultimately, Antoinette wants to help wounded soldiers, specifically rehabilitation with amputees, aiding them in using prosthetics so they are able to live their lives to the fullest.