OHS student awarded full-ride military scholarship
Senior Ellie Younquist received a military scholarship for $180,000 and she will enter the US Marine Corps
May 21, 2020
Every year, a select amount of students nationwide are granted scholarships from the United States Marine Corps. OHS senior Ellie Youngquist is one of this year’s recipients. Scholarships like these support students throughout college whilst enrolling them in various courses through the Marines. Military scholarships are highly competitive, according to the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps website, “Selected applicants for the program are awarded scholarships through a highly competitive national selection process, and receive full tuition and other financial benefits at many of the country’s leading colleges and universities.”
After an intense application and selection, Youngquist was awarded an NROTC (Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps) scholarship for the Marine Corps. Youngquist said. “This was a highly competitive scholarship, and I am greatly honored to have received it. They award a few around each sector of the country to areas divided up by states– so I was competing against students from the Dakotas, Iowa, and surrounding states applied for this scholarship, and the determination process took well over a month to choose recipients. There were not a lot of these scholarships given out, so I am very proud to have received one.” Very few scholarships were given out to students nationwide.
Getting accepted in such a program is not an easy task, one has to apply for the scholarship and meet physical requirements just to submit an application. Youngquist said about the thorough application process, “There is quite a bit of paperwork involved besides the physical portion. You have to apply not just for the scholarship itself, but also the intended colleges you intend on attending if you are granted the scholarship, and be accepted into those.”
An invested family background in the military–primarily Air Force and Military is what got Youngquist interested in the Marines. She said, “What really turned me towards the Marines was their core values (honor, courage, commitment)…I have a military family background and wanted to continue that line of honor.”
Youngquist will be attending the University of Minnesota -Twin Cities, majoring in Human Physiology. During college, she will be attending numerous classes and training year-round. After graduating from college, Youngquist will be a college graduate as well as a commissioned officer in the Marines. She will be required to serve four years on active duty, although she intends on serving well beyond that. Youngquist expresses such passion and commitment to her future in the Marines, she hopes to be stationed on bases working with nutrition and fitness programming.
