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scholarship
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2020-07-25
COVID-19 Military Service Leads to Scholarship
I decided to attend St. Mary's University while on the COVID-19 relief mission with the Texas Army National Guard during Summer 2020. The attached email is the email I received when I was notified that I had earned a scholarship that would lower my costs of attending graduate school. I was overwhelmed. I applied to the scholarship with the following essay: I am currently a graduate student completing my Graduate Certificate for Dual Credit Teaching in U.S. History. I am on track to graduate in May 2021. I work as an Anthropology Instructor at Blinn College. I currently serve as the Anthropology Instructor to RELLIS Campus for the joint Texas A&M Engineering at Blinn Program. Students are co-enrolled in the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University and Blinn College. Given the expansion of the Blinn RELLIS Campus, there is a need for instructors who are certified to teach in multiple disciplines. Though my Ph.D. is in Anthropology, I possess a B.A. in History. I decided to go back to school in order to become certified to teach History courses so that I could further advance Blinn’s vision for the RELLIS Campus. I have a proven track record of academic excellence that I intend to continue at St. Mary’s University. I finished my undergraduate studies and previous graduate studies with GPA’s over 3.90, receiving various awards along the way (see C.V. for details). The most important thing in my life is not my job or academic achievement, but my family. I am married to a loving and supportive wife, Helen, who works as a high school math teacher. We have two amazing daughters – three-year-old Annie and one-year-old Rose. Though difficult, I have decided to surrender some of my limited time with them in order commit to and finish this graduate certificate online by May 2021. Finally, in addition to my work at Blinn College and my family obligations, I serve as a Commissioned Officer in an Airborne Company with the Texas Army National Guard. Most recently I was activated for the COVID-19 Relief Mission, leaving my wife behind with the children. My orders ran from 18 April-18 July. While on this mission, I initially served as a COVID-19 Mobile Testing Team (MTT) Officer-in-Charge (OIC). Subsequently promoted to 2nd-in-Charge/Executive Officer (2IC/XO) of Texas Region 6, I led a staff of 18 Soldiers in personnel management and logistical resupply for 12 MTTs, encompassing 229 Soldiers and Airman. In all, my region served 8.2 million people in 25 counties - 29% of Texas. Working with multiple civilian agencies, including the Texas Department of Emergency Management, Texas Emergency Management Task Force, and Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service, I managed the resupply of 546,825 medical supply items and the testing of 58,550 COVID-19 patients at nursing homes, assisted living centers, meat packaging plants, drive-through sites, and walk-up sites in the region. Thank you for making this scholarship fund available to non-traditional students like myself. Additional funding would significantly lighten the overall family burden of completing this graduate program. Thank you once again for your generosity. It was very uplifting that my hard work with the military also allowed me to attend school full time upon returning from duty. -
2020-10-16
Worrying for future scholarships
I'm worried about applying for a future scholarship called the MEXT scholarship because supposedly international students are still not allowed to enter Japan. While this will likely change, I'm fearful that due to many governments around the world losing tax revenue due to the pandemic, that they'll will cut extraneous programs such as the MEXT scholarship. The pandemic prevented people taking the JLPT language assessment last July as well. That makes it harder to get certifications to help boost my current resume. They say that there will be a test date in December, but like many events during the pandemic, it's up in the air.