Adam Vieux, pictured at Redeemer Lutheran Church, is graduating as a member of the Kansas University School of Engineering’s SELF Fellowship program.

As crazy as it sounds, Adam Vieux said he’s actually had more time to spend with his family during his time at Kansas University than he’s used to.

It sounds a little crazy, because he’s been pretty busy.

He’s hustled through an engineering curriculum in three years, served as an elder at his church and participated in Kansas University’s ROTC program. He’ll graduate this spring as a member of the KU School of Engineering’s inaugural SELF Fellowship program.

All of that, though, hasn’t taken him away from his wife and four children, ranging in age from 2 to 7, as much as his regular job did. Vieux is serving in the U.S. Navy aboard nuclear submarines. He served on the USS Wyoming from 2001 to 2005 and the research submarine NR-1.

He loves nuclear subs, he said, because of the camaraderie among the crew and the community. He’ll return to nuclear submarines after leaving KU, only this time as an officer instead of an enlisted man.

Aboard the NR-1 submarine, he was able to participate in a number of research missions, including one that searched the sea floor for an old sunken submarine off the coast of North Carolina. Though he’s used to tight quarters, these were especially so. The ship was only 160 feet long, and held a crew of 13.

“It was tiny,” Vieux said. “I’ll never see anything like that again in the Navy.”

Lawrence experiences

Vieux grew up in Lawrence and attended Free State High School. He admitted he wasn’t the best student then, and he eventually dropped out, earning his GED.

The Navy paid for his KU education after he applied for and received a scholarship. Because of that, and for taking a chance on him after he’d dropped out of school, Vieux said he felt obligated to continue serving.

“I struggled in high school because I didn’t do any work,” Vieux said. “When I got in the nuclear power program, they kind of worked that issue out of me.”

At KU, that wasn’t much of a problem.

“He brought his calculus books to the hospital” when his fourth child, Annabelle, was born, said Vieux’s wife, Catherine.

Lucy McGilley, director of the SELF Fellowship program at KU, said Vieux exemplified the kind of student that the program sought to recruit to KU. The program is designed to foster business and technology leadership skills, and they weren’t looking for academic all-stars, but for the leaders of tomorrow, McGilley said.

She said she always noted how willing Vieux and his family were to help out with any community service project or anything else with the program.

“His family would invite the other fellows over to their house for dinner,” McGilley said. “They are always willing to help wherever they see a need.”

Balancing responsibilities

Vieux said he’s learned a lot about time management over the past three years, juggling his many responsibilities. McGilley remembered once when he packed up the last chair after an event, and told her that his family was headed off to the Omaha zoo with his children.

“He’s a great family man,” McGilley said. “He’s always there for everyone in his life, whatever they need to be done.”

Vieux and his family, though, have had to sacrifice some of that when he’s serving for months at a time on a nuclear submarine. He’s missed children being born –Catherine said she couldn’t even send word for days because they were maintaining strict radio silence. He has to miss other major events in his children’s lives, too, like birthdays, he said.

He said he leans hard on his wife, both while he’s been busy with school and at sea.

“Some days are easier than others,” Catherine said. “It’s a lot of being understanding. I knew what I signed up for, being a military wife.”

Vieux said he never would have made it where he’s at without her. He said she’s always understanding when he needs to be home a little later because of his studying. Still, he said, he’s had to cut back on some schoolwork to maintain a healthy family life.

While he said he could probably be an A student with some more work, there are other priorities, too.

“I’d rather be a B student and be available for my kids and for my family,” he said.