Veterans Week: Higginbotham's Leadership Lessons From UC San Diego to the Navy

Throughout the week of Nov. 2-6, UC San Diego Athletics will be honoring UC San Diego Veterans Week by sharing the stories of Triton scholar-athlete alumni who have served in the military. For more information on UC San Diego Veterans Week, click here.

September 11, 2001.

“Everyone remembers what they did that day,” Sean Higginbotham reflected, thinking back on the tragic terrorist attacks against the United States. “I’ll always remember that day during my senior year at UC San Diego.”

For Higginbotham, the senseless violence on Sept. 11 made him think back on a decision he had made a year prior. It reinforced to him that he made the right choice. 

He was going to join the Navy. 

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Before joining the Navy, Higginbotham earned his undergraduate degree at UC San Diego. He majored in mechanical engineering while competing on the Triton men’s tennis team. Higginbotham played under then-head coach Eric Steidlmayer, who had recruited him during his senior year of high school. 

“Eric was an excellent coach,” Higginbotham recalled. “He was a really good role model for all of us. He was really disciplined himself and he had great character, and he instilled discipline in the team. Eric is one of those coaches and leaders that brings out the best in people, and it made us all want to work really hard for him.”

Higginbotham enjoyed bonding with his Triton coaches and teammates – many of whom he still keeps in touch with – as well as competing at the collegiate level. 

When he wasn’t on the court, Higginbotham was busy studying. He focused on his schoolwork as he pursued his degree.

“We would squeeze in homework in between matches, or on road trips we’d go to the libraries at those schools and study sometimes,” Higginbotham recollected. “It was a lot of studying. It was definitely challenging, but it was nothing compared to the real world.”

For Higginbotham, his transition to the "real world” began with the Navy’s officer candidate school after he graduated from UC San Diego.

“It’s like a three-month boot camp experience,” Higginbotham explained. “It was pretty challenging. I dealt with a lot of sleep deprivation.”

Despite the challenges of officer candidate school, Higginbotham felt that he had an advantage: tennis.

“Having been on the tennis team, we constantly were running around the court, so I was in really good shape,” Higginbotham shared. “Being in good shape and then going to boot camp, I was towards the top of my class fitness-wise. It made it a lot easier for me.”

After successfully completing officer candidate school, Higginbotham began his first deployment on a destroyer ship based out of San Diego. He served as an officer of the deck on the destroyer, which is a fast, maneuverable warship.

“You’re kind of like the captain’s representative when he’s not on the bridge, so you’re steering the ship so to speak,” Higginbotham explained. “I was standing watch on the bridge and navigating the ship... There are benefits to being on a smaller ship, like getting to know everyone and the different jobs that you do.”

Higginbotham’s experience on the destroyer varied significantly from his later deployment on an aircraft carrier. First however, he traveled to Goose Creek, S.C. to attend Naval Nuclear Power School in order to prepare.

“They teach you everything about the nuclear propulsion plant on the aircraft carrier,” Higginbotham shared. “They teach you all the physics behind everything and how it operates. 

“There’s a training submarine we trained on for a six-month period prior to going to our aircraft carrier. That’s where we learned how to stand all the different watches in the reactor propulsion plant.”

As with officer candidate school, Higginbotham felt that his past experiences gave him an advantage. 

“Having my mechanical engineering degree from UC San Diego was very helpful,” Higginbotham reflected. “The nuclear power program in the Navy is considered one of the most challenging academic military programs to get through and pass. Compared to other people who didn’t have engineering degrees, I felt like I had a total leg up in terms of my ability to solve problems.”

After completing his time at the Naval Nuclear Power School, Higginbotham was deployed on an aircraft carrier based out of San Diego. He was tasked with standing watch at the reactor plant among other duties.

“It’d be around six hours of watch in a 24-hour period, and then for my role I also had a division of people that I managed, so there’s the administration and maintenance of that division,” Higginbotham explained. 

“We’d also run reactor plant drills in the middle of the night. We were always training. A very high level of knowledge and skill was required to maintain everybody’s proficiency in operating the plant and there’s always turnover, so you’re always training people. It was really heavily focused on training and maintenance of the equipment.”

Higginbotham enjoyed certain aspects of his deployments on both the destroyer and the aircraft carrier, but he acknowledged that his time on the aircraft carrier had some perks.

“Living on an aircraft carrier is a lot easier,” Higginbotham said. “You have more space, better amenities, and the food is better. Plus, it’s not rocking all over the place like a small ship.”

In total, Higginbotham went on three deployments during his time with the Navy, all based out of San Diego. Thinking back on his deployments, Higginbotham noted that one of his key takeaways was learning about leadership.

“I was exposed to a broad array of leadership styles,” Higginbotham recalled. “I firsthand experienced how good leaders can make a lot of things better for a group and how bad leaders can bring a group down. I learned a lot of leadership lessons through those experiences.

“Also, I think my experiences gave me a higher level of ownership in the way I look at my jobs in particular since I left the military,” he added. “It’s helped a lot in that regard.”

Higginbotham’s first job after his time with the Navy was as a quality engineer at VACCO Industries in the Los Angeles area, and he easily adjusted to life outside the military. However, living in Los Angeles made him realize he wanted to move back to San Diego, so he ultimately returned to his roots: UC San Diego.

“I decided to go to the Rady School of Management at UC San Diego to get my MBA,” Higginbotham said. “It’s tough to beat a high-quality academic institution overlooking the Torrey Pines Gliderport with study rooms that have an amazing view of the ocean.”

In addition to the breathtaking scenery, the entire experience was ideal for Higginbotham, as he connected with his professors and enjoyed his classes.

“Rady’s professors were phenomenal,” Higginbotham recalled. “All the coursework was really interesting, and I learned a lot. I learned how to think differently and it really expanded my interests.”

Higginbotham’s time at Rady from 2014-16 was instrumental in leading him to his current employer, Cymer. The company, whose headquarters are in San Diego, develops and manufactures lasers for the semiconductor industry.

“I can really thank the careers department at Rady,” Higginbotham reflected. “A lot of Rady alumni get hired on at Cymer. 

“Cymer had this program where it was a year-long leadership rotational program. We rotated through different parts of the company to learn about the company, and Rady really opened that door for me.”

Now, Higginbotham is in his fifth year at Cymer, currently working as a manufacturing manager. He oversees the department which manufactures, builds, and tests the lasers. 

“Cymer has been a great company to work for,” Higginbotham shared. “We're part of a larger company called ASML, which is based out of the Netherlands. Cymer isn't small, but it still has a small-company feel to it. I’ve really enjoyed my time there.” 

Higginbotham draws on his experiences throughout his life each day in his leadership role at Cymer. From admiring Steidlmayer’s leadership on the tennis team, to learning leadership lessons during his time in the Navy, to the leadership rotational program at Cymer, Higginbotham has used it all to become who he is today.

About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program begins a new era in 2020 as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 37 have garnered prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions. For more information on the Tritons, visit UCSDtritons.com or follow UC San Diego Athletics on social media @UCSDtritons.