The Colorado Springs based university has identified the 2011 recipients of its CTU Wounded Warrior Scholarship and Wounded Warrior Spouse Scholarship programs. These programs, which are a partnership between CTU and the non-profit Yellow Ribbon Fund, provide educational assistance to wounded service men and women and spouses of wounded warriors as they recover from their injuries and get their lives back in order.

Thus far, the university has awarded 150 scholarships worth approximately $3 million. The school says that it is one of the few universities offering a scholarship program in cooperation with the Yellow Ribbon Fund. These scholarships cover the full cost of tuition, course materials and fees, as well as a new laptop computer.

Scholarship Recipients to Pursue Undergraduate and Advanced Degrees

Of the 25 CTU Wounded Warrior Scholarship recipients, 24 are in the Army and one is serving in the Air Force.“Our wounded warriors are true American heroes who have given so much, so selflessly, to serve our country,” said retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, a member of the CTU Wounded Warrior Scholarship selection board.

“While the scholarship recipients may face challenges in their future, education has the power to build successful futures. I’m honored to be part of something that gives our wounded military members the support and encouragement they need to pursue the next chapter in their lives.”

The 2011 Wounded Warrior Scholarship recipients are:

Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Spc. Marie Caudill, Army
Cpl. Jefferson Davis, Army
Staff Sgt. Jon Hawke, Army
Sgt. Rebecca Manda, Army
Sgt. 1st Class Frances Montes-Crawford, Army
Sgt. Jody Piercy, Army
Sgt. Daryl Shaw, Army

Fort Carson, Colorado
Sgt. Robert Armstrong, Army
Spc. William Dale Ballard, Army
Spc. Victor Favero, Army
Spc. Danielle Friedericksen, Army
Staff Sgt. Robert Kinnon, Army
Spc. James Lindsey, Army
Spc. Mark Paszkowski, Army
Staff Sgt. Ralph Topps, Army

Fort Meade, Maryland
Staff Sgt. Nicole Belgrave, Army
Spc. Richard Kelly, Army
Sgt. 1st Class Neville King, Army
Chief Warrant Officer Ed Rivas, Army
Sgt. Brandon Williamson, Army

Fort Sam Houston, Texas
Spc. Brittani Lowery, Army
Staff Sgt. Domingo Soto-Santana, Army

Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas
Tech. Sgt. Christopher Barker, Air Force

Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington D.C.
Sgt. Rafael Delgado, Army
Spc. Walter Lester, Army

Spouses of Wounded Warriors Recognized for Their Support

The 25 CTU Wounded Warrior Spouse Scholarship winners were selected by a six-person selection board led by Marie Tillman, board chair of the Pat Tillman Foundation. Twenty-one are wives and four are husbands of wounded service members.

Six of the spouses also have husbands or wives who received a Wounded Warrior Scholarship this year – meaning they will be attending CTU at the same time as their spouse.

“The strength, commitment and inspiration of the husbands and wives of our wounded service members often go unnoticed,” said Marie Tillman, board chair of the Pat Tillman Foundation and chair of the CTU Wounded Warrior Spouse Scholarship selection board. “I’m proud that Colorado Technical University is recognizing their support by granting scholarships that will help them further their education or pursue new careers at a critical time in their family’s lives.”

The 2011 Wounded Warrior Spouse Scholarship recipients are:

Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Christopher Caudill
Jessica Copare
Kedlin Delauder
Tracy Mauro
Preston Miller

Fort Carson, Colorado
Kimberly Sue Ballard
Amber Bowker
Melissa Favero
Travis Grizzard
Amber Guerrero
Nishoro Kinnon
Mary Elizabeth Mathis
Michelle Paszkowski
Gina Rinder
Joshaua Rowe

Fort Hood, Texas
Gina Yances Redondo

Fort Meade, Maryland
Kendra Bennett
Jasmine Tejada

Fort Sam Houston, Texas
Mary Lou Copper

Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas
Trish Barker

Wounded Warrior Veteran Spouse Recipients:

Kathryn Aldrich, Colorado
Dawn Calin, Maryland
Amanda Cameron, Washington
Lisa Ripley, Illinois
Juliet Grecco Santiago, Florida

CTU Degrees Offer Convenient, Flexible Learning Environment For Recipients

All CTU Wounded Warrior Scholarship and CTU Wounded Warrior Spouse Scholarship recipients pursue their degrees online, allowing students to take classes from anywhere in the world. The award-winning virtual campus at CTU offers an ideal environment for recovering service members to begin and continue their education as they recover. Additionally, the virtual campus provides an opportunity for CTU Wounded Warrior Spouse Scholarship recipients to visit and care for their spouses as they recover without interrupting their studies.

The CTU Wounded Warrior Scholarship program is just one part of the overall commitment CTU has made to serve active military, veterans and their families. Currently, approximately one-third of CTU students are active military, reservists, National Guard, veterans and their spouses. Through the CTU Department of Military Education, these students have access to military advisors and specialists, many of whom are veterans and can help students transition to academic life. CTU also participates in the Post-9/11 GI Bill and Yellow Ribbon Program. For more information, visit www.coloradotech.edu.

Easily one of the most recognizable fight or victory songs is the Notre Dame Victory March. That tune has been around for more than a century, becoming nationally known in the 1940 Hollywood classic, “Knute Rockne, All American.” As the “win one for the Gipper” speech drew to an end, the Victory March swells and the rest is history.[1]

The Victory March is one of several Notre Dame fight songs and has itself been updated and shortened slightly and is now 57 seconds long. Four seconds may have been trimmed from the original, but the song remains basically the same.[2]

Hundreds of schools have their fight and/or victory songs, but time and room limits our list to what just may be the 13 best songs out there.

1. United States Naval Academy — Navy has learned how to win again, therefore “Anchors Aweigh” is played much more frequently these days. Like the Notre Dame tune, the Midshipmen song is recognized and has a century of history behind it, a tune first played publicly at the 1906 Army-Navy game.[3]

2. Yale — There was a time when the schools now comprising the Ivy League played for the national championship. Harvard v. Yale is a class match up (The Game), one that hasn’t diminished through the years despite the refocus of college athletics on the Ivy level. Yale’s “Down the Field” is played at the end of every game while “Bulldog” is played following a Yale touchdown.

3. USC — The University of Southern California uses “Tribute to Troy,” but also makes use of catchy modern terms including “Tusk” and “All Right Now” to stir up the fans. UCLA fans, eat your hearts out!

4. Memphis — The school’s fight song is known to fans, but “Eye of the Tiger” is recognized widely, a 1982 “Survivor” chart topper. Sometimes the classics get usurped by the contemporaries.

5. Rutgers — “On the Banks of the Old Raritan” may just be the oldest song of its kind, written in 1876, seven years after Rutgers met Princeton in the first ever college football game. However, “The Bells Must Ring” seems favored as the song to encourage the Scarlet Knights in battle.

6. Florida State — Some schools know how to stir up the crowds and the Florida State Seminoles are no exception. “War Chant” gets the crowd “chopping” and is meant to strike fear into FSU opponents. With more than 400 members, the FSU Marching Chiefs is the largest collegiate band in the world.

7. Nebraska — “Mr. Touchdown USA” may seem to be the Cornhusker fight song, but that’s because you’ll hear it played frequently as Nebraska puts up 50 points or more against an opponent. “There Is No Place Like Nebraska” is the tune unique to this Big 12 turned Big Ten (Twelve) school.

8. United States Military Academy — Like Navy, Army has a rich football tradition. This year, they’re in every game and may go bowling for the first time in ages. “On, Brave Old Army Team” celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2010, cheering on the black, gray and gold to victory.[4]

9. Alabama — Besides the alma mater tune, you’ll hear the Crimson Tide “Million Dollar Band” play “Rammer Jammer (Hey Vols)” when they take on Tennessee. “Yea, Alabama” is the official fight song while “Sweet Home Alabama” is left to being played over the PA.

10. Michigan — Okay, “The Victors” is easily one of the most recognized fight songs in all of college football, a majestic tribute to one of the most victorious gridiron programs. Written in 1898, the song has been shaking The Big House and striking fear into opponents since.[5]

11. United States Air Force Academy — No surprise that “Into the Wild Blue Yonder” is the Air Force tune, titled as “The Army Air Corps” when it came out in 1939. The song’s official name is “The U.S. Air Force,” but you’ll be forgiven if you’re hung up on the yonder thing as I am.[6]

12. Boston College — Some credit Boston College with starting the parade of fight songs, though Rutgers faithful will contend otherwise. In any case, the Eagles’ “For Boston” has been around since 1885 and is worthy of a mention.

13. Bowling Green — This “other” school from the state of Ohio officially uses “Forward Falcons,” but when it comes to stirring up the crowd, “Aye Ziggy Zoomba” is a classic. Play it fast and you’ll get the fans (or the band) to pass out. Fun stuff!

Did your school miss our “Fab 13” list? If so, feel free to add your information or comments.

References

[1] American Rhetoric: Knute Rockne: All American (MP3 speech)

[2] University of Notre Dame: Notre Dame Victory March

[3] The US Navy: Anchors Aweigh

[4] WestPoint.org: On, Brave Old Army Team

[5] The Michigan Daily: “The Victors!” turns 100 years old

[6] Hill Air Force Base: History of the U.S. Air Force Song

Resources

Fight Music: NCAA College Football Fight Songs Music

Photo Credit: Gerald G

Scholarship Fund

Thankfully, the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund (FASF) is in place to help the children of America’s military heroes attend college. Freedom Alliance founders LtCol Oliver North, USMC (Ret.) and the late LtGen Edward Bronars, USMC had a vision to start this fund in 1990.

Since then, more than $3 million in college scholarships have been awarded to these children with new opportunities announced just this past week.

“Families of killed or permanently disabled service members face hardships that most Americans can not imagine,” Freedom Alliance President Tom Kilgannon said. “To honor the men and women of our Armed Forces by providing scholarships to their children is a privilege. Paying for a college education is one hardship that these students should not have to endure.”

Student Eligibility

To determine eligibility, you must be the dependent son or daughter of a U.S. soldier, sailor, airman, Marine or Guardsman who has been killed or permanently disabled (100% VA disability rating) in an operational mission or training accident, or who is currently classified as a Prisoner of War (POW) or Missing in Action (MIA). You must also be a high school senior or registered as a full time undergraduate student and under the age of 26 to qualify.

To learn more about the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund and/or to apply please visit http://www.fascholarship.com/ or call 800-475-6620. The application deadline is July 31, 2010.

Charity Navigator

Freedom Alliance is a 501(c)(3) organization and is recognized by Charity Navigator as a four star charity, the highest rating given by this nationally recognized industry charity evaluator. The Freedom Alliance welcomes donations from the general public in support of its college scholarship fund.

Higher Education

Most college students won’t face anything near that much of a percentage increase this year, but whatever they are hit with will most likely outstrip the inflation rate and force some students to come up with ways to stay ahead of the curve. Short of a tuition rollback (yeah, right) you may need to develop your own plan to keep pace. To that end we offer to you five ways to help you stay ahead of the college tuition curve:

Tutor or consult. If you are a leader in a particular class, why not offer your services as a tutor? Many colleges arrange for tutors to work with struggling students, but you can also offer your services directly to classmates. Consider using your talents to help out a local company or a business through the web. Offer to consult or provide a flat fee for helping to launch a website or work as a virtual assistant.

Rent textbooks. By now you know that textbooks can be a real budget buster. Private enterprise knows this as well with several companies having gotten into the textbook rental business. Borrow your books for the semester, pay a fee, and then return them when you are done. Save hundreds of dollars annually, perhaps enough money to offset your tuition increase. Businesses renting college textbooks include Chegg, BookRenter.com, eCampus.com and CampusBookRentals.com.

Cut back. You can’t always earn more money to cover your costs. Too much work means too little time for studying although working your way through school is an option more students may want to consider. Realistically review the way you live: do you have a cell phone? A car on campus? Do you plan on visiting Texas, Florida or other warm destination for spring break? You may find that your lifestyle is much more costly than what you can afford. Perhaps you need to evaluate your spending priorities.

Consider a transfer. When you started out at college, did you fully grasp how much it would cost you to go to school? Unfortunately for a lot of students and their families that answer is no. Importantly, do you know what your starting salary will be in your chosen field? If you will be leaving college with tens of thousands of dollars in student debt perhaps switching to a more affordable school makes sense. Elite Private College may be where you are getting your education, but State University may be much more affordable for you, while still providing an excellent education.

Go Navy. Or Army. Or Air Force. Or Marines. One way to cover some of your college costs is to enlist in the military. Think that I’m kidding? No, the federal government offers a generous education package to members of our military. You don’t have to enlist full-time either: reserve or guard duty offers enormous benefits while allowing you to continue with your education.

Get Radical

Some of the ideas suggested here may sound a bit radical to you. And they are. That’s because higher education costs are spiraling out of control and unless you want to go deeply into debt, other options besides student loans, credit card borrowing and poverty should be explored.

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Serving Our Veterans

The University of Notre Dame was among the schools recently cited as being military friendly.

A number of colleges and universities are considered to be military friendly schools, institutions of higher learning who help veterans make the transition from military service to civilian life through educational opportunities and career guidance.

G.I. Jobs, the web portal designed to help members of the Navy, Air Force, Army, Marines, Coast Guard and National Guard succeed in civilian life, recently named what it considers to be the top schools for veterans. These schools are listed as follows in alphabetical order:

• American University
• Arizona State University
• Auburn University
• Ball State University
• California State University (Fresno, Monterey Bay and Long Beach campuses)
• City College of San Francisco
• Creighton University School of Nursing
• Drury University
• Embry Riddle Aeronautical University
• Florida State University
• Illinois State University
• Indiana State University
• John Carroll University
• Johns Hopkins University Engineering for Professionals
• Kansas State University
• Marquette University
• Miami University
• Oregon State University
• Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics
• Syracuse University
• Texas A & M University
• The Ohio State University
• The University of Akron
• The University of New Mexico
• Tulsa Community College
• University of Louisville
• University of Notre Dame
• University of Oklahoma
• University of Southern California
• Vanderbilt University
• Virginia Military Institute
• Webster University

G.I. Jobs also launched a new website containing interactive tools and search functionality to help prospective students find a school that suits their needs. Called the G.I. Education Handbook, the site can also be reached at militaryfriendlyschools.com.

Adv. – All hope isn’t lost even in a tough economy. SayMyCareer.com offers timely advice on how you can succeed, offering job search links, career information, even advanced education tips and ideas at no charge to you.

California College San Diego (CCSD) has been serving service members for over 30 years. CCSD has been helping veterans and military candidates receive all educational benefits they are eligible for. With its accelerated college degree programs, the college also assists candidates with benefits like Vocational Rehabilitation and Military Tuition Assistance

American military personnel who have been fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are getting a heap of thanks from this country due to an important overhaul of the GI Bill signed into law by President Bush late last month. For the first time since the initial bill was enacted in 1944, significant changes have been put into place, updates which will make it easier for returning veterans and their families to benefit from their service to this country.

Key provisions of the Post-9/11 GI Bill include the following important points:

• All service personnel who have been active since September 10, 2001 and/or who have been honorably discharged are eligible to participate.

• A housing provision of up to $2600 per month is now included for retired military personnel.

• An increase in tuition assistance kicks in; a yearly books and supplies stipend payable to the student of $1000 is also included (active duty personnel are not eligible to receive this benefit). A one time payment of $500 is given for people who must relocate from a rural area to attend school.

• Under certain conditions, benefits can be transferred to spouses and to their dependent children.

Provisions of the new bill do not kick in until August 1, 2009, with various benefit percentages granted depending on their length of service from September 10, 2001 on. Ex-military members are eligible to receive benefits for 15 years from their last period of active duty of at least 90 days.

The changes to the GI Bill have long been in the making, ending several years of frustration on the part of advocates who called for the end of partisan wrangling and for the passage of the bill. Some states and private colleges are already developing plans to offer in-state tuition rates or discounts to eligible students ahead of the August 1, 2009 start date or other incentives to attract new students.

(Source: www.gibill.va.gov)

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