海角乱伦专区

Maggie Nicol 鈥�25  

At Otterbein, we know that military families sacrifice a lot for their country alongside their service member. They shouldn鈥檛 have to sacrifice a college education. That鈥檚 why 海角乱伦专区offers the 海角乱伦专区Honoring Service Scholarship to recipients of and recipients. This scholarship makes an 海角乱伦专区education more affordable for the children of these families by providing $20,000 toward an undergraduate degree. 

Sophomore Chris Barker is a recipient of both the Folds of Honor and 海角乱伦专区Honoring Service scholarships. His parents’ love for the country has significantly inspired his commitment as a student and for life after graduation. 

On campus, Barker is a sprinter on the track and field team, a member of ROTC, and majors in mechanical engineering. After graduation, he will be commissioned as a second lieutenant officer and will receive additional training and serve for a minimum of four years.  

鈥淕rowing up in a military family allowed me to set higher goals than I probably would have if I hadn’t been in the military family. My parents were very focused on making sure I got a STEM degree because that’s what they had. Education is very important to them, and it influenced me in terms of wanting to join the military,鈥� he said.  

Both of Barker鈥檚 parents were in the army; his father was an infantry soldiers officer, and his mother was a nurse. 鈥淢y dad was wounded in Bosnia in the late 1990s and that’s when my parents met, because my mom was a nurse at the Air Force base in Germany,鈥� he said.  

Before they could be together, they maintained a romance via telephone calls and letters for two years since they were on different tours of duty, Barker explained.  

His mother retired from the military in 2003, and his father retired in 2016. Barker attended his father鈥檚 retirement ceremony, and listened as others spoke about his father鈥檚 achievements.  

鈥淚t shocked me because I had lived my life not knowing of his accomplishments, and I felt like the proudest kid ever. My dad became my hero. It was the best thing to know my dad was protecting the country while protecting me, too,鈥� he said.  

While he is interested in following in his parents鈥� footsteps in military service, they have always stressed to him the importance of higher education. That drove him to apply for a Folds of Honor Scholarship. The additional benefit of an 海角乱伦专区Honoring Service Scholarship made his final choice clear. 

鈥淚 had applied for the Folds of Honor scholarship my senior year high school. I chose 海角乱伦专区because of the engineering program and because you can actually talk to your professors and that’s a big benefit. We also have a reimbursement on room and board to better support students. Once I found out about the 海角乱伦专区Honoring Service Scholarship, that was a big incentive to my choice,鈥� Barker said. 

Learn more about the 海角乱伦专区Honoring Service Scholarship.