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Cheryl L. Kight - Vice President, Marketing

Columbus, July 2009

VETERANS HELPING VETERANS - FIRST CANTON AMERICAN LEGION 44 MEMORIAL FUND, INC. SCHOLARSHIP AWARDED TO JAMESON SPRINGER, MOUNT UNION COLLEGE SENIOR

Alliance resident and U.S. Army veteran Jameson Springer has been selected as the first recipient of Canton’s American Legion 44 Memorial Fund, Inc. scholarship, established through The Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges (OFIC).  The scholarship is for students from Stark County attending any one of the 34 OFIC member colleges and universities across the state.  Recipients must be members or former members of a branch of the armed forces of the United States who served on active military duty and separated from service honorably. 

Springer, now a senior at Mount Union College, served for 4 years in the United States Army, including one year in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.   Recognizing the necessity of a higher education to successfully compete in today’s job market, he is majoring in Business Administration with an eye toward a career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  “I am so honored,” Springer said, “to be the first recipient of this scholarship.  It’s a wonderful thing that they’re doing – helping their fellow veterans.”  
 
John Chadwick, Trustee and President of the American Legion 44 Memorial Fund, Inc., said upon the establishment of the scholarship that it was “right in line with the Memorial Fund’s original purpose”, which was to assist veterans and support veterans’ activities and education.  “We are veterans helping veterans,” he stated, “and we believe that partnering with OFIC to assist Stark County’s veterans to get a college education is an excellent way not only to support them but also to thank them for their service.”

OFIC is the primary corporate and foundation solicitation organization for 34 independent Ohio colleges and universities and operates one of the largest, most comprehensive and diverse scholarship programs in the state.  OFIC member colleges collectively enroll nearly 97,000 students and award one-third of all bachelor’s degrees in the state. For 59 years OFIC has worked to highlight the leadership, value and excellence of independent higher education and has provided unrestricted operating funds and scholarship commitments through funds raised in annual solicitations of businesses and foundations, thereby assuring continuation of excellence in private higher education. OFIC is governed by a Board of Trustees comprised of Ohio’s corporate leaders, as well as presidents of the 34 member colleges.

The member colleges are:  Ashland University, Baldwin-Wallace College, Bluffton University, Capital University, Cedarville University, University of Dayton, Defiance College, Denison University, The University of Findlay, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Franklin University, Heidelberg University, Hiram College, John Carroll University, Kenyon College, Lake Erie College, Lourdes College, Malone University, Marietta College, Mount Union College, Mount Vernon Nazarene University, Muskingum University, Notre Dame College, Oberlin College, Ohio Dominican University, Ohio Northern University, Ohio Wesleyan University, Otterbein College, Urbana University, Ursuline College, Walsh University, Wilmington College, Wittenberg University and The College of Wooster.