Nursing Major Bea Mikayla Faigal Is Honored for Aiding Heat-Exhausted High Schoolers
January 22, 2026
Bea Mikayla Faigal, a Rutgers nursing student and a cadet with the Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, relied on medical training and military discipline to aid high school students experiencing heat exhaustion on a scorching summer evening at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.
The sophomore, who attends the School of Nursing at Rutgers University-New Brunswick and serves in Air Force ROTC Detachment 485, received the Silver Valor Award in late November for her efforts. The honor is awarded to cadets for voluntary acts of heroism.
Faigal and fellow ROTC cadets were helping as cadet training officers during a weeklong leadership course for Junior ROTC high school cadets on June 23 at Fort Dix on Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, about 16 miles south-southeast of Trenton, N.J. It was a hot (in the 90s) and humid evening – dinnertime for the cadets. Many of the high school students were outside the fort’s dining facility, waiting in line to eat.
Reposted from Rutgers Health