The opportunity to earn a degree means a great deal to many people.
For Chelsea Shaheen of Stafford, Va., “It means I can live the American dream of becoming whatever I want to be, and do whatever I want to do in life, rather than being told who I am allowed to be and what I am allowed to do.”
Chelsea Shaheen
Shaheen is the recent winner of the CSU Hero Behind the Hero Scholarship. The award honors the spouses and children of active-duty public safety personnel (firefighters, law enforcement officers, EMTs and dispatchers) and National Guard and active-duty military men and women, and covers tuition for up to 24 months for one specific online degree program with CSU. The scholarship is awarded six times a year.
Shaheen, who is married to Marine Ryan Shaheen, plans to use the scholarship to pursue an online bachelor’s degree in marketing.
“Inventing and designing new ways of promoting companies, events, people, and products have always fascinated me,” explained Shaheen. “I want to use the education I learn to one-day market for non-profit organizations and military support organizations.”
She also hopes her effort will dispel misconceptions that “most military wives are lazy, stay-at-home wives and moms, who have no desire to further their education or have a career of their own, not just for ourselves, but also to contribute to their family’s finances and well-being.”
Shaheen added, “The truth is, most of us want to pursue a degree and career of our own, but we lack the financial stability and sufficient time at one duty station to enroll in a university or college to be able to finish a degree before moving on to the next duty station with our husbands.”
To learn more about the Hero Behind the Hero Scholarship, please call 888-785-3006 or send an email to hero@columbiasouthern.edu.
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