REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -- This year's applicants for the commissary scholarships were asked to look into the past when writing their required essay.
Here was the assigned topic: If you can travel back in time, but cannot change events, what point in history would you go and why'
"I bet that was fun," Redstone's store director Robin Daniel said.
Apparently it was. Winners of this year's Scholarships for Military Children received their $1,500 awards and read their essays in a ceremony July 14 at the Commissary.
The six winners are Cathryn Schartung, a freshman at Auburn University who will major in chemical engineering; Stephen Cummings, a freshman at Auburn who will major in building science; Laura Macedonia, a senior majoring in animal sciences at Auburn; Kaitlin "Katie" Anderson, a senior in biology at Georgia Tech; Joshua London, a freshman at Atlanta Christian College who is undecided but plans to double major in biblical studies and something else; and Emily Arzonico, a freshman at Auburn who is also undecided on a math and science major.
Schartung and Cummings both wrote in their essays that they wanted to travel back to the Revolutionary War era. Macedonia selected going back to the ratification and signing of the Declaration of Independence. London chose traveling to be with his late grandfather, who was a pilot in World War II. Anderson, who was represented by her father, retired Air Force Col. Warren Anderson, wrote she wanted to visit her paternal grandparents in the 1960s and hear their stories from World War II.
Schartung, daughter of the late Navy Reserve Capt. Joseph Schartung and his wife Connie, just graduated from St. Bernard Preparatory School in Cullman and will attend Auburn this fall.
"This (scholarship) means a lot because I worked on it myself," she said. "I used all the gifts that I was given to get this, and this is just like another gift my dad could give me."
Cummings is the son of retired Lt. Col. Tim and Carol Cummings; Macedonia, the daughter of retired Lt. Col. David and Elaine Macedonia; London, the son of retired Air Force Lt. Col. John and Joyce London; and Arzonico, the daughter of Daniel and Nancy Arzonico.
"I am so grateful to be accepting this scholarship," Macedonia said.
Speakers during the ceremony included Garrison commander Col. Bob Pastorelli, Huntsville city administrator Rex Reynolds and Angie Peloquin of Overseas Service Corporation.
"Thank you for what you bring to the table today and what you're going to do in the future," Reynolds told the scholarship winners.
The Scholarships for Military Children, sponsored by vendors and administered by Fisher House Foundation, is among many programs initiated by the Defense Commissary Agency to involve commissaries even more deeply in the fabric of the military community. This year's sponsors include the Overseas Service Corporation and Bayer HealthCare.
Each year the scholarships are open to qualified sons and daughters of U.S. military ID cardholders including active duty, retirees, National Guard and Reserve members. Graduating high school seniors, as well as students enrolled in a four-year program, are eligible to apply. A minimum 3.0 grade point average and demonstration of community involvement are among the requirements for consideration.
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