The University of South Carolina Aiken will kick off the Veteran and Military Student Empowering Healthy Veterans, Scholarship Event on Wednesday, Nov. 1, 5:30 p.m. – 7 p.m.
The event will recognize the donors who provide scholarship funds for USC Aiken Veteran and Military Students including students who were awarded scholarships for the 2023-2024 academic year. During the ceremony, $45,500 will awarded to twenty-six veteran, service members, military spouse, and family students.
There will also be an announcement made of a new Endowed Scholarship, The Captain Linda S. Caldwell U.S. Army Endowed Nursing Scholarship. Funds for this scholarship were donated by Medal of Honor Recipient, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Pitts, and Our Community Salutes Midlands SC. "Having the scholarship named in my honor is truly overwhelming and certainly not what I had in mind," Caldwell said. "It is a very humbling experience to say the least and hard to express my sincere gratitude to the generous donors for this awesome honor." Our Community Salutes is a national organization, founded in 2009, to honor our nation's graduating high school seniors who plan to enlist into the military following graduation. Our Community Salutes - Midlands South Carolina is a regional chapter of the national organization.
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| Linda Caldwell |
Caldwell joined the Army Student Nurse Program in 1964, during her sophomore year at the University of San Francisco School of Nursing, to continue the military tradition in her family. During Caldwell's three years of active-duty service, she was stationed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, at the 67th Evacuation Hospital in Qui Nhon, Vietnam, and at Letterman Army Medical Center in San Francisco. She worked in neurosurgery (Walter Reed and Letterman) and as head nurse of a surgical ward in Vietnam.
Jeremy O' Donnell, the founder and managing partner of Model Performance Group who also donated $15,000 to the Empowering Healthy Veterans Campaign, will serve as the event keynote speaker.
To donate to the Captain Linda S. Caldwell U.S. Army Endowed Nursing Scholarship, contact Mr. Robert Murphy at RMurphy@usca.edu or call the USC Aiken Advancement Office at 803-641-3408.
For more information, contact Angela Saxon, Angela.saxon@usca.edu