FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 29, 2023

Third group of military teens enroll in top US boarding schools through nonprofit Orion Military Scholarships

Jamestown, R.I. — This spring, four more children from active duty U.S. military families will receive scholarships to attend top US boarding schools through a Rhode Island-based national public charity organization, Orion Military Scholarship Fund, Inc. The new “Orion Military Scholars” — Vivian S., Andrew C., Daphne W. and Gabriel M. — are the third annual cohort of teens to be offered the opportunity to have uninterrupted high school experiences. Throughout their childhoods, these scholarship recipients have had to move and change schools multiple times (three to nine times) due to their parents’ military orders. But beginning Fall 2023, the military scholars will attend boarding schools which have partnered with Orion to provide stability to this overlooked but vulnerable segment of the population.

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 typically change schools six to nine times before high school graduation. Frequent moves and educational inconsistency take their toll on military children, whose unpredictable, mobile lifestyles put them at significantly greater risk for anxiety, depression and self-harm during adolescence.

Although there are hundreds of boarding-based high schools in the US with four-year high school programs, military families cannot afford the high tuition and fees, which can be upwards of $70,000 per year. Without affordable boarding school options, 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, according to a 2023 Blue Star Families military lifestyle survey report, a military housing crisis has forced 81% of military families to pay “thousands of dollars over” their allowances to find adequate housing in decent school districts.

The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence recognizes that military children need educational stability in order to thrive, so they offer their military families a “Continuity of Education Allowance” to pay for the private boarding-based schools their children need. No such government-funded program exists in the US.

Orion Military Scholarship Fund, Inc. was founded in 2019 with a mission to alleviate this hardship for US military families by providing a combination of scholarships, school financial aid, enrollment assistance and continuing support for select military children to attend a consortium of eleven member boarding schools across the United States.

Francis Molinari, Orion’s cofounder and Vice President of Military Affairs explained: “Orion is only in it’s third programming year, and already we’ve seen more than double the applications being submitted by military children. To us, this confirms that we have tapped into an unmet need. Our active duty military families want to continue to serve, and the armed services need them to stay in, but military parents don’t want their mobile lifestyles to put their adolescent children’s mental well-being and education at risk. The only way to give these deserving teenagers the stability they truly need is to provide the opportunity for stable, quality educational experience at boarding schools.”

Orion’s third cohort of scholars includes children of Army, Navy and Air Force families who are stationed at U.S. military installations at home and overseas. Orion’s 2023 Cohort will attend The Lawrenceville School (Lawrenceville, N.J.), St. George’s School (Newport, R.I.), and St. Andrew’s School (Middletown, Del.). Orion’s consortium of eleven member schools also includes Madeira School (McClain, Va.), Randolph-Macon Academy (Front Royal, Va.), Cate School (Carpinteria, Ca.), Tilton School (Tilton, N.H.), Episcopal High School (Alexandria, Va.), Mercersburg Academy (Mercersburg, Pa.), St. Andrew’s School (Middletown, Del.), Hargrave Military Academy (Chatham, Va.) and Salisbury School (Salisbury, Conn.).

Army child and 2023 Orion Scholar Vivian S., who has moved and changed schools seven times, said, “Restarting every year throughout my life has been extremely challenging. Although I am proud every day of my family’s service, it has been hard to build the bonds provided by a stable life through my Army experience.”

Surveys conducted in 2021 and 2022 by the National Military Family Association and Bloom Military Teens revealed that over 90 percent of military adolescents have “at risk” mental well-being. Twenty-eight percent of military teen respondents reported having low mental well-being and behavior that was indicative of depression. They “generally had difficulty thinking clearly and making up their mind. They also rarely felt optimistic, did not often feel relaxed, and felt disconnected from others…”

According to the Centers for Disease Control, maintaining stable relationships at home and at school can protect adolescents’ mental health. “Boarding school will provide me with the opportunity for stability,” Vivian said. “I will be able to build bonds without the stress of knowing I may leave again.”

Orion’s scholarship recipients are proud of their parents’ military service, regardless of the challenges they’ve faced. “I am very proud of being a child of an active duty parent,” beamed 2023 Orion Scholar and Army child Andrew C. “I have always looked up to my dad and wanted to be just like him. Being a child of an active duty parent is a very big part of who I am. I have always aspired to someday serve my country, in any way possible.”

On Memorial Day, Volume 5 of the nonprofit’s newsletter, Orion’s Arrow, was published, along with photographs and profiles of the 2023 Orion Military Scholars. Full profiles of Orion’s 2021, 2022, and 2023 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 (USN, Ret.) 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 2024 enrollment begins September 1, 2023.

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