Military Base Visits

Grantham staff members, Marva Kemp (pictured here with Chief Bill Potts and Mark Owens) and Valerie Beall , are on the road this summer touring military bases and spreading the word about Grantham. Marva is Grantham’s Military Liaison and Valerie is the National Director of Business Development handling Grantham’s federal and civilian programs.

In June, Marva and Valerie flew to Arizona and participated in an Education Fair and Student “Meet and Greet” at Davis Monthan AFB, Tucson. They then drove south to Ft. Huachuca, which is located 15 miles from the border of Mexico, and set up shop in the Education Center to meet with several soldiers. While there, they visited Michele Standley, a civilian contractor on base whose life was drastically changed after getting her degree at Grantham. (Michele’s story can be found on page one of the December, 2004, Grantham Newsletter). Everyone they met on both bases, from the ESOs to the soldiers, were friendly and eager to hear about the educational opportunities that Grantham University has to offer.

Each month, we will be following Marva and Valerie’s travels across the country and meetings with Grantham students. In the meantime, if you know of someone who is interested in learning more about Grantham University, have them contact Marva Kemp (military programs) or Valerie Beall (federal/civilian programs).

For those not familiar with Davis Monthan AFB or Ft. Huachuca, here is some interesting history on both:

Davis Monthan AFB is a key Air Combat Command installation within the city limits of Tucson. It has a colorful history and long tradition of excellence in service to our country. In 1927, Charles Lindberg flew the “Spirit of St. Louis” to Tucson to dedicate Davis Monthan field, then the largest municipal airport in the United States. During World War II, Davis Monthan served as a training base for B-1 and B-24 “Liberators.” After the war ended, operations at the base came to a standstill and the airfield became a storage site for hundreds of decommissioned aircraft, such as B-29’s and C-47 “Gooney Birds.” Due to Tucson’s dry climate, these relics are still there today.

Ft. Huachuca’s history goes back to the Indian Wars of the 1870’s. In February of1877, Colonel August B. Kautz, commander of the Department of Arizona, ordered that a camp be established in the Huachuca Mountains to offer protection to settlers and travel routes in southeastern Arizona and strategically block the Apache escape routes through the San Pedro and Santa Cruz valleys to Mexico. (Huachuca, loosely translated means “place of thunder”). After Geronimo’s surrender in August of 1886, the Army closed more than 50 camps and forts in the territory, but Fort Huachuca remained open to control renegade Indians, Mexican bandits and American outlaws. Because of its dry climate and physical isolation in the desert, Ft. Huachuca became the Army’s center for testing electronic and communications equipment in 1954. Today, the post is home to the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and School and is a major military installation in Arizona.

Washington Scholarship Fund Graduation Ceremonies June 29, 2005

Virginia Walden(Ex. Dir. DC Parents for School Choice) , Ford Valerie Beall, and Reverand Kwasi Thornell (Pres. & CEO of the Fishing School)

Grantham University was invited by Sally Sachar, President and CEO of the The Washington Scholarship Fund (WSF) to attend the 2005 graduation ceremonies for the 8th and 12th grades recipients of WSF scholarships. Eighty-seven boys and girls received recognition for their accomplishments from the The Honorable Tom Davis, The Honorable Margaret Spelling, Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, and a spokesperson from The Honorable Anthony A. Williams, Mayor, District of Columbia.

The Washington Scholarship Fund (WSF) was established in 1993 by a group of business leaders in the DC area who were concerned about the educational options for DC’s low income families. WSF’s Board of Directors include prominent business leaders such as C. Boyden Gray, Senior Partner, Wilmer Cutler, Pickdring, Hale and Dorr, LPP, Lawrence C. Nussfdorf, President and COO, Clark Enterprises, Inc. and James V. Kinsey, Founder and CEO Emeritus, America Online. The fund was created so that families might have a choice in where their young children go to school. In the last 12 years, the Washington Scholarship Fund has raised $18 million to send 4,000 students to private schools. The majority of scholarship students attend parochial schools.

WSF has two scholarship programs, one federally funded (DC Opportunity Scholarship Program) and one privately funded (The Signature Scholarship Program). Grantham University has offered WSF a full scholarship to be awarded to a deserving high school graduate. The presentation ceremony will be scheduled as soon as WSF has selected the scholarship recipient

To learn more about distance education and the many programs available to military personnel, prospective students should contact the base education office. More information about Grantham's programs is available at http://www.grantham.edu/ or by calling 1.800.955.2527.

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