FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JUNE 1, 2021
Lisa Smith Molinari
Operations Officer
Orion Military Scholarship Fund, Inc.
904-859-3161
Six Military Children First Selected for Boarding School Scholarships
Through Orion Military Scholarship Program
Jamestown, R.I. — This spring, six teenagers from active duty U.S. military families were chosen to receive scholarships to attend select boarding schools through a Rhode Island-based charity organization, Orion Military Scholarship Fund, Inc. The scholarship recipients hail from diverse duty stations, military branches and family backgrounds, but all have had to move multiple times due to their parents’ military orders. Beginning Fall 2021, the scholars will attend boarding schools to allow them stable, continuous high school experiences.
Children of active duty U.S. military parents move three times more than civilian kids, and change schools up to nine times before high school graduation, according to the Department of Defense Education Activity. Frequent moves and the inconsistency of multiple school programs take their toll on military children, whose families need stable educational opportunities.
“There have been many challenges I have had as an active duty kid such as changing schools and having to adjust to my surroundings often,” said Riley E., an Orion Scholar whose Army family is currently stationed in Cuba.
Although independent schools with boarding are one way to allow military children to stay in one school for four years, military families, regardless of rank, cannot afford the high tuition and fees, which are comparable to private college costs. Without boarding school options for a consistent education, many military families resort to homeschooling (six percent), or take their chances moving from one public school to another (eighty percent). The added stressors of constant change and unpredictability leave military children at higher risk of emotional and psychological difficulties such as anxiety and depression.
Orion Military Scholarship Fund, Inc. was founded in 2019 with a mission to alleviate this problem for military families by providing a combination of scholarships and financial aid for select military children to attend a consortium of twelve member boarding schools across the United States.
Eric Peterson, President and cofounder of Orion attributes the charity’s first-year success during a pandemic to “incredibly generous donors, dedicated schools, and smart allegiances with partners such as The Association of Boarding Schools, the Military Child Education Coalition, Blue Star Families, and most recently, New Day USA Foundation.”
Orion’s first cohort of six scholars include children of Army and Navy families who are stationed in U.S. states in the Midwest, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Pacific, and on a U.S. base in Cuba. They will each attend one of Orion’s twelve member boarding schools which include Lawrenceville School (Princeton, N.J.), Fountain Valley School (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Tilton School (Tilton, N.H.), St. George’s School (Newport, R.I.), and Randolph-Macon Academy (Front Royal, Va.). Other member schools include Portsmouth Abbey School (Portsmouth, R.I.), Millbrook School (Millbrook, N.Y.), Madeira School (McClain, Va.), Cate School (Carpintaria, Calif.), Episcopal High School (Alexandria, Va.), Mercersburg Academy (Mercersburg, Pa.), and St. Andrew’s School (Middletown, Del.).
Rachel D., whose Army family is stationed in Kentucky, said that after learning to adapt to many new school environments, she looks forward to spending four years at Lawrenceville School. “On average, I move every two or three years…. Boarding school will teach me to take necessary risks and help me grow into an independent adult.”
News of Orion’s first operational year was released in Volume 1 of its nonprofit newsletter, Orion’s Arrow, along with photographs of the 2021 Orion Scholars. Full profiles of each scholar and the twelve member boarding schools are on Orion’s website, www.orionmilitary.org.
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About Orion: Orion Military Scholarship Fund, Inc. is an IRS-approved 501(c)(3) tax-deductible public charity, dedicated to providing scholarships for children of active duty military parents to attend select boarding schools for continuous, stable high school experiences. Orion was founded in 2019 by Eric and Krista Peterson, who have worked in boarding school administration for more than 30 years, and Capt. Francis Molinari (Ret. Navy) and his wife Lisa, whose daughters moved often as military children until they attended boarding high schools on scholarships. Orion was incorporated as a nonprofit in Delaware but is headquartered in Jamestown, R.I. Orion’s next application season for scholarships for Fall 2022 enrollment begins September 1, 2021.
Links:
https://www.orionmilitary.org/our-scholars
https://www.dodea.edu/partnership/about.cfm
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/08/opinion/military-families.html
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/growing-number-of-military-families-opt-for-home-school
https://rma.edu/blog/how-much-does-boarding-school-cost/
https://www.militarychild.org/mcecsurvey
https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/16/11/military-kids-resilience-and-challenges