ALUMNI: Robert Bohn

By Claire Stevens,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

Rob Bohn has learned a lot from his experiences. From growing up in up in the South Pacific to joining Key Club at Davis High to being a Marine Corps officer.

Bohn was born in Southern California but moved to Vanuatu, an island in the south Pacific, soon after so his father could help his grandfather with his sheep ranch. He moved back to California with his mother at the age six but spent his summers with his father on the small island.

This experience exposed him to life outside the United States.

“It was a very formative experience being exposed to life outside the bubble of Davis,” Bohn said.

At DHS, Bohn was on the wrestling team. He also got involved with Key Club, a community service based club, because a friend had convinced him to be vice president of the club while she was president.

Bohn was surprised by how much he gained from the experience. He and his friend were able to attend the National Key Club Conference. He believes that his time in Key Club made him a more competitive candidate when applying to colleges.

After graduating DHS in 2004, Bohn attended UCLA and majored in Mechanical Engineering. While there, he enrolled in the U.S. Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps. He then began to train for the Navy, but later switched to the Marine Corps after learning more about what they did.

After graduating, Bohn was commissioned as a second Lieutenant. Once he completed training, he was placed in charge of 15 Marines, and together, they were deployed to Helmand Province, Afghanistan for seven months. He returned home and was placed with another unit before heading back to Afghanistan for another seven months.

When he got back the second time, Bohn worked at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego training recruits. The Marines taught Bohn about “the value of hard work and determination.” He also learned that people are what make an organization.

“The Marine Corps puts people first. Our most important asset is our Marines themselves. It’s not our rifles, not our tanks, not our aircraft, it’s the Marines,” Bohn said.

After his military service, Bohn decided to get his master’s degree in business administration at UC Davis starting in the fall of 2015. He is currently a full-time MBA student and is focusing on a career in energy efficiency. He has taken on two different internships, one with the UCD Energy Efficiency Center and one with PG&E.

He and his wife Julia Bohn, whom he met at Emerson Junior High and started dating while at DHS, also have two children.

“I’ve learned that you have so many opportunities and you just have to take advantage of them […] You have to go out and get what you want,” Bohn said.