TMCnet News
2016 ThanksUSA Scholarship Recipients SelectedThanksUSA today announced the recipients of its post-secondary scholarships for the 2016-2017 academic year. More than 250 children and spouses of America's Armed Forces have been selected to receive scholarships totaling nearly $1 million from the national non-profit organization dedicated to providing educational opportunities to military families. "ThanksUSA and its supporters nationwide are proud to present these awards to so many of our military families facing the challenge of college affordability," said ThanksUSA President and retired Marine Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Schmiegel. "Most of our active duty troops support their families, including 700,000 spouses and more than 1.1 million children, with only one income. Working with our corporate partners, ThanksUSA not only helps close the financial gap for military families seeking higher education, but also provides pathways to productive and fulfilling careers." Among the ThanksUSA scholarship recipients from across the nation, representing a cross section of all the U.S. Armed Services, National Guard, Coast Guard, and Reserves, are:
Beginning with the 2016 cohort, ThanksUSA is also expanding its support of military families with a new ten-year campaign to increase scholarships ten-fold. The organization plans to provide 25,000 grants over the next decade through its unique Pathways for Patriots initiative that not only provides the annual grants of $3,000 each, but also calls on companies to provide mentoring, networking, internship, and career opportunities for the scholars they sponsor. "Today we are also a pathway to employment for the talented children and spouses of our military members," explains Schmiegel. "The Pathways program will engage corporations in industries that are struggling to find skilled workers and create pipelines of ThanksUSA scholars interested in pursuing post-secondary degrees, certifications, and, ultimately, careers in occupations that are going unfilled. With systemic workforce shortages across America - as evidenced by the millions of vacant jobs in manufacturing, energy, healthcare, and STEM-related fields - companies have an opportunity to hire talented military spouses and children by simply embracing our Pathways program." Leading the Pathways for Patriots program are:
Since its inception in 2005, ThanksUSA has awarded 4,000 scholarships to military families valued at $12 million. Individual and corporate sponsors championing the organization's efforts include Altria, American Airlines, Apex (News - Alert) Systems, Blavatnik Family Foundation, Centene Corporation, Health Net Federal Services, Intelligent Decisions, Jackson Casey Fund, Kaplan University, KPMG, The Kovner Foundation, Lockheed Martin, Navy Postgraduate School Foundation, Paladin Capital Group, Pershing Square Foundation, Red Cloud Food Services, Rumsfeld Foundation, USA Funds, and others. About ThanksUSA: ThanksUSA is a non-partisan, charitable effort to mobilize Americans of all ages to "thank" the men and women of the United States Armed Forces. The organization provides college, technical, and vocational school scholarships to the children and spouses of military personnel. For more information, visit www.ThanksUSA.org.
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