Press Release: Five Military Children Selected to Receive Orion Scholarships to Boarding Schools in 2022
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 1, 2022
Lisa Smith Molinari
Operations Officer
Orion Military Scholarship Fund, Inc.
904-859-3161
Jamestown, R.I. — This spring, five teenagers from active duty U.S. military families will receive scholarships to attend select boarding schools through a Rhode Island-based charity organization, Orion Military Scholarship Fund, Inc. Throughout their education, the scholarship recipients have had to move and change schools multiple times due to their parents’ military orders, but beginning Fall 2022, the military scholars will attend select boarding schools which will provide them stable, continuous high school experiences.
Many wonder why military children, who are renowned for their resiliency, would need to attend boarding schools. 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 unpredictable, mobile lifestyles put them at significantly greater risk for anxiety, depression and self-harm during adolescence. Multiple moves also affect military teenagers’ ability to transfer academic credits and progress in sports and extra-curricular activities. Worse yet, frequent moves often inhibit military teenagers ability to form positive social connections. Military families need stable educational opportunities to allow their children to stay put during high school.
“I have attended nine different schools in the last twelve years. I don’t live in a place for longer than three years, and so never build a connection to them. It is difficult to attempt making new friends, as it often feels the energy required is too much for a temporary friendship,” says scholarship recipient Henry S., whose Army parents are stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia — Henry’s ninth home in twelve years.
Although independent schools that offer boarding allow military children to stay in one school for four years, military families cannot afford the high tuition and fees, which are comparable to private college costs. Without affordable boarding school options for a consistent education, many military families resort to homeschooling (up to four times more than civilian families), or take their chances moving from one public or Department of Defense (DoD) school to another (eighty percent). Furthermore, skyrocketing property prices and long base quarters wait lists have created a housing crisis for military families. Of those families who live off base to find better school districts, 77 percent pay steep out-of-pocket housing costs that leave them financially stressed, according to a 2022 Blue Star Families military lifestyle survey report.
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, school financial aid, and enrollment assistance for select military children to attend a consortium of eleven member boarding schools across the United States.
Eric Peterson, President and cofounder of Orion explained:
“Orion is an effort to address an unmet need in the marketplace. We identify and recruit deserving and talented military kids, and then match them with some of the finest schools in America. Military families are given the sort of high-quality educational opportunities they might otherwise never consider or access, and the schools are able to enroll motivated, resilient students they might otherwise never find.”
Orion’s second cohort of five scholars includes children of Army, Navy and Air Force families who are stationed at U.S. military installations at home and overseas. They will each attend one of Orion’s eleven member boarding schools which include The Lawrenceville School (Princeton, NJ), Fountain Valley School (Colorado Springs, CO), St. George’s School (Newport, RI), and Madeira School (McClain, VA). Orion’s other member boarding schools are Randolph-Macon Academy (Front Royal, VA), Cate School (Carpinteria, CA), Tilton School (Tilton, NH), Episcopal High School (Alexandria, VA), Mercersburg Academy (Mercersburg, PA), St. Andrew’s School (Middletown, DE), and Army-Navy Academy (Carlsbad, CA)
2022 cohort member Harrison V., whose Air Force family is currently stationed in Japan, had to endure strict lockdowns, cancelled sports seasons, and remote learning after moving overseas. Since his father’s tour of duty is two years, Harrison would have had to move again next year, if it weren’t for Orion’s boarding school scholarship program. “Boarding school will allow me to stabilize for the next three years and finish high school without having to move again. It will provide me with opportunities I don’t have right now while living overseas. Boarding school will also help me prepare to transition from high school to being independent and on my own in college,” Harrison said.
Despite the challenges they faced, the scholars remain proud of their military parents’ lives of service to the country. Jael G., who will be attending The Lawrenceville School through Orion, said, “I feel grateful for my parents military service and also greatly appreciate their sacrifice.”
On Memorial Day, news of Orion’s second cohort scholars was released in Volume 3 of nonprofit newsletter, Orion’s Arrow, along with photographs of the 2022 Orion Scholars. Full profiles of Orion’s 2021 and 2022 Scholars and links to its eleven 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 2023 enrollment begins September 1, 2022.
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
https://bluestarfam.org/research/mfls-survey-results-2021/