Families in Tri-state Area Get Boost Through Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation

Pittsburgh Tribune-Reivew

RICK MILLS

Caitlyn Schrout has her work cut out for her over the next four years at West Virginia University.

A freshman double major in electrical and mechanical engineering, Schrout is the recipient of a four-year, $1,700 annual scholarship from the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation.

“Without this scholarship, I’d have to get a job,” said Schrout, 18, the featured speaker at the foundation’s awards dinner Thursday night in the Rivers Club in downtown Pittsburgh.

Schrout is one of about 200 students from the tri-state area who received scholarships from the foundation this year. Recipients must be children of Marines and meet financial and academic criteria.

The daughter of a retired Marine gunnery sergeant, Schrout wants to join the Marines after graduation.

“I like the lifestyle and the structure of the military. A part of why I want to join is to see the world,” Schrout said.

Her plans are a hot topic of discussion between her parents.

“The mom in me says no,” said Joyce Schrout, who is familiar with long deployments.

Her father, Joseph Schrout, has no doubts about his daughter’s potential. “She’s even tougher than her brother. She’ll do great,” he said.

Founded in 1962, the foundation has provided more than 35,000 scholarships valued at nearly $100 million to the children of Marines and Navy Corpsmen who were killed or wounded in combat or have demonstrated financial need.

This year, the foundation is awarding 2,300 scholarships valued at $7 million.

“We don’t say no to any student who qualifies. Marines have always been the first to fight, and now it’s our time to meet the fight for this generation of Marine children head on,” said Margaret B. Davis, the foundation’s president.