FULL SCHOLARSHIP!!!!!!!!!

That's right! The title is CORRECT! On Christmas Eve, two days ago, I received a letter in the mail from the Department of the Navy, congratulating me on my selection for a FOUR-YEAR NROTC SCHOLARSHIP AT THE CITADEL!! Nothing could be better, I am so blessed, everything has turned out so perfectly. I am really overwhelmed at receiving this. I was starting to get doubts about it because of my average SAT/ACT scores and my choice of a non-technical major, along with my not-so-great Math scores... I was thinking maybe I'd received a two.. three year scholarship.. but no, FOUR YEARS! 100% Tuition to the Citadel paid in full.. which will amount to nearly $100,000 dollars worth of scholarship money. The Citadel costs $27,000 for the first year and $23,000 the other three years. This is the best Christmas present I could have asked for. God is so good, even when I am so undeserving fo any of these blessings. I have been praying that God would show me that this is truly what He wants me to do... I think getting accepted to the Citadel in just 5 weeks, and receiving an unbelievable four scholarship three months later is a pretty good sign. I am just so blessed. All my thanks goes to God who has given me two parents who have impacted my life in indescrible, uncountable ways, and my family, a family where I draw alot of my strength from. My brothers, David and Matt, who ultimately inspiring me to join the Navy when they enlisted back in '94 and '96. I can still remember when I was 7 years old, wearin' a Dixie Cup, with my blue dress shirt on my with iron-on sleeve patches.. standing out by the road saluting every car that passed. Last year, when my brother was commissioned as a United States Naval Officer, I knew I would soon be following that same path. David, who now has a a wife and two children, was the one who convinced me earlier this year to apply for the Naval Academy and for an NROTC Scholarship. I then began thinking and thinking. Before I had kind of drifted away from my childhood dreams of serving my country in the Navy, and had started thinking about going to college and getting involved in politics. One day I received a phone call from David, and he said some things to me that really got me thinking. He just asked me to ask myself honestly, after you go to college, get a BA Degree, and go to find a job, what are you going to do? It's not often you see a 22 year old running for political office. And so I thought and prayed, and I finally realized, that my entire life, the Navy was what I'd always felt called to do. And so, here I am 10 months later, accepted to the Citadel and getting it paid for in-full. I just can't figure out why God would love and bless a person as undeserving as I am. But that is the God I serve, as it says in I Timothy, "When we are faithless, He is faithful." He has always been there, He has always looked after my family and my life. I just hope that I will never take that for granted and never forget to give him all the praise and all the glory.

THE CITADEL ALMA MATER

Oh Citadel we sing thy fame

For all the world to hear,

And in the paths our fathers showed us

Follow without fear.

Peace and Honor, God and Country,

We will fight for thee.

Oh Citadel, we praise thee now

And in Eternity.

Oh Citadel, though strife surrounds us,

We will ever be

Full conscious of the benefits

That we derive from thee.

Stand forever, yielding never

To the tyrant's Hell

We'll never cease our struggles for

Our mighty Citadel.