Free Republic

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7, 2007 – A troop-support group has launched an essay contest to award scholarships to military children in gratitude for the sacrifices they have made while their parents serve the nation. Homefront America has joined the W. Daniel Tate family and Sara’s Hope Foundation for a second year to host a scholarship contest awarding $1,000 to 25 military dependent children. The organization is a member of America Supports You, a Defense Department program designed to connect U.S. citizens’ support directly to troops and their families. “This is the launching of a huge campaign,” said Mamie Maywhort, Homefront...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1, 2006 -- The Defense Commissary Agency and the Fisher House Foundation have teamed up for the seventh year to offer educational scholarships to children of military families and retirees. The Scholarships for Military Children Program helps children of servicemembers pay for college by providing at least one $1,500 scholarship for each of DeCA’s more than 260 commissaries worldwide, DeCA spokesman Kevin Robinson said. "We consider the commissary to be one of the pillars of the military community," Robinson said. "As such, it is important that we invest in the future of the families we serve." Nearly...

Hispanics head for higher ed (Especially in Northwest Arkansas.) Gema Vargas, 20, will be a senior at UALR in the 2006-07 school year. She came to this country as a child. Her father, who had fled a war in Nicaragua, got a job in Arkansas, then brought his family up. Because they were considered war refugees, the Vargas family got the necessary papers to stay here comparatively easily, Vargas said. She said that a majority of Latino college-age students in the U.S. don’t have papers, which means they’re here illegally. Vargas speaks English fluently — although, she says, she sometimes...

By all accounts, Marshawn Lynch is the real deal. Overshadowed last season by Heisman winner Reggie Bush, the Cal running back is himself ranked among the leading candidates for this year's trophy, and is the chief reason some believe the Golden Bears will challenge the dynastic Trojans for the Pac-10 title. Big-time recruits who turn into big-time players, as Lynch has done, are the dream of college coaches throughout the country. Without a draft like the NFL, and subject to rules that can put a school on probation for giving a kid a sweatshirt, it takes a special kind of...

The UA will enroll about 100 new Saudi Arabian students this summer, which could signal the reverse of a post-Sept. 11 trend of having fewer international students in the United States, especially those from the Middle East. The students are part of a new large-scale scholarship program by the Saudi government, which will send about 6,000 students to American universities this year after just 1,442 Saudi students had visas to study in the United States in 2004.

While Sen. Hillary Clinton has become one of the most vocal critics of the Bush administration's plan to allow Dubai Ports World to run six major U.S. ports, Bill Clinton has been silent on the hot-button issue. That's probably because the former president has repeatedly urged closer ties between the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates over the years - not to mention the fact that he's accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from the country's leaders, and even sponsors a college scholarship program that sends U.S. students to study in the UAE. The web site for Mr. Clinton's presidential...

LOS ANGELES -- As a UCLA linebacker in the late 1990s, Ramogi Huma left college after four years with $6,000 in credit card debt. His scholarship paid for tuition, room, board and required books but not incidentals such as phone bills and travel expenses. Coming from a lower-income family, he lacked the funds to cover the difference. "That's where MBNA came in and cleaned house," Huma said of his high-interest credit card. After graduation, Huma lobbied for a bona fide full ride for NCAA athletes, whose standard scholarship package, called a grant-in-aid, is equal to an amount about $2,500 a...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17 - Urgently trying to improve relations with the United States, the Saudi Arabian government is promoting a scholarship program that has already more than doubled the number of new Saudi enrollments at American colleges and universities since last year. The program, aimed in part at reducing widespread hostility in the Saudi public toward the United States, has reversed a steady plunge in Saudi students here that started immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. The Saudi government offered 5,000 students full four-year scholarships, complete with living allowances. About two-thirds of the 5,000 students enrolled in American...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2005 – Becky Campbell's son, David, is in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. After her son returned home safe after a tour of duty in Iraq in 2003, Campbell said she decided to help military families who'd suffered the loss of a loved one. "I wanted to do something," Campbell said. So Campbell founded the nonprofit Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund in October 2003. She said the all-volunteer, nationwide group provides scholarship money to surviving spouses and children of military families from all branches of the armed forces. "We're a grassroots organization not affiliated with anybody...

BOSTON (AP) -- A student who was shot four times while promoting democracy in Iraq and a senior who is writing her thesis on vampires and blood contagion in 19th-century literature were among 32 Americans selected Sunday as Rhodes Scholars for 2006. The scholars, chosen from 903 applicants, will enter Oxford University in England next October. The scholarships fund two or three years of study. About 85 scholars from at least 14 nations are selected each year.One winner was Scott R. Erwin, a 2005 graduate of the University of Richmond, who founded Ambassadors of Democracy, a civic education initiative at...

The Battle Over Gay Teens What happens when you come out as a kid? How gay youths are challenging the right--and the left In May, David Steward, a former president of TV Guide, and his partner Pierre Friedrichs, a caterer, hosted an uncomfortably crowded cocktail party at their Manhattan apartment. It was a typical gay fund raiser--there were lemony vodka drinks with mint sprigs; there were gift bags with Calvin Klein sunglasses; Friedrichs prepared little blackened-tuna-with-mango-chutney hors d'oeuvres that were served by uniformed waiters. Billionaire philanthropist Edgar Bronfman Sr. was there; David Mixner, a gay activist and longtime friend of...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2005 – The Defense Commissary Agency and the Fisher House Foundation have teamed up again to offer educational scholarships to children of military families and retirees. The Scholarships for Military Children Program is marking its sixth year, DeCA spokesman Kevin Robinson said. The goal, he said, is to provide at least one $1,500 scholarship for each of DeCA's 268 commissaries worldwide. "It's important for us to give back to the military community that we serve," Robinson said. "This is one of the ways we do that, in addition to providing a commissary benefit to our customers." He...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19, 2005 – Army Sgt. Manuel Mendoza-Valencia, 24, of San Ramon, Calif., was presented with the first Sentinels of Freedom scholarship today in the Pentagon's Hall of Heroes. "Sgt. Manny Mendoza has been an example of will and courage both on the battlefield and in his recovery," Gordon England, acting deputy secretary of defense, said. "He has given greatly in service to America. And like the men and women of our latest generation, Manny has much more to give and a long, bright future ahead of him." Mendoza is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and a double...

KAMPALA, Uganda -- One Uganda lawmaker is offering girls an incentive to stay in school and stay out of bed. The member of Parliament, Sulayiman Madaada, said he'll give college scholarships to virgins. The lawmaker said he's counting on donors to help pay for the project. Girls who want to take advantage of the virginity scholarships will have to agree to medical exams to confirm their chaste status. The lawmaker said the scholarship offer is a way to curb AIDS and promote the education of girls.

The University of California announced Wednesday that its campuses will stop participating in the National Merit Scholarship program, contending that the annual competition doesn't fairly assess academic talent. The decision means that the six campuses that had been funding scholarships of up to $2,000 a year for National Merit finalists will channel the money into other student awards, starting with the fall 2006 freshman class. [. . .] UC officials faulted the National Merit program's reliance on the PSAT as the initial screening filter for the 1.3 million high school juniors who take that practice version of the SAT college...

Ave Maria [University in Naples, FL] creates Terri Schiavo Scholarship By I.M. STACKEL, imstackel@naplesnews.com July 9, 2005 UPDATE — Likening Terri Schiavo to St. Therese, the Little Flower, the Rev. Michael Beers hinted Schiavo, too, could be canonized. The dean of Ave Maria University's undergraduate theology program, Beers was shepherding Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, and brother, Bobby Schindler, through a Friday morning announcement that a new scholarship would be set up in Schiavo's name. Schiavo lost her ability to function physically or mentally on Feb. 25, 1990, after her heart stopped as a result of an eating disorder....

"The extremists have taken over so many of our mosques, one mosque at a time. They have driven out those who disagree with their ideology." Those are the words of Dr. Ibrahim Mohamed, a respected faculty member at a university not far from Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Mohamed is a proud and brave man, but he is also quite concerned that this interview will cause him to be marked as an apostate. At the onset of this interview, he made it clear that he fears retaliation in response to the information he is providing, especially possible during the trip to Cairo...

Lessons in Real Life 101 By: RICK REISS - For The Californian Left-wing propagandist Michael Moore recently awarded six Cal State San Marcos students $2,500 each. The premise of these scholarships: to recognize students who defy school administration and fight for student rights. OK, let's rewind and review the background of these "slacker scholarships." Last fall, the CSUSM administration vetoed spending $6,500 in student funds to help pay for Moore's "Slacker Uprising Tour" on campus. This event was pegged at $37,000; $25,000 going to the "working class" Moore and the remainder going toward his traveling, lodging and presumed eating expenses....

Friday, July 8, 2005 77WABC - Hannity Freedom Concert featuring LeAnn Rimes, Aaron Tippin and Buddy Jewell. ORDER YOUR TICKETS ONLINE HERE! or call 800-329-5454 Concert Hosts: Sean Hannity Oliver North DONATE TO THE FREEDOM ALLIANCE SCHOLARSHIP FUND: Proceeds of the concert go to the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund which honors the bravery and dedication exhibited by Americans in our armed forces who have sacrificed life or limb by providing educational scholarships to their children. For more information and how you can make a donation please go to the Freedom Alliance Website. 100% of all donations will be applied to...

Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey waged an assault yesterday against in-state tuition rates for illegal immigrants as the students waited to urge lawmakers to approve the controversial bill. ``Breaking the law should not entitle you to public benefits,'' Healey told the Committee on Ways and Means. ``America is a nation of immigrants, but America is also a nation of laws.'' The bill, which has failed to pass before, would provide illegal immigrant students who have been in Massachusetts at least three years and graduated from a state high school the opportunity to attend state colleges and universities at the same cost...