Photo By Maj. Jason Sweeney | Cadet Fransica Salas speaks to high school counselors about how the U.S. Army National...... read more read more
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FRESNO, Calif. — While growing up in a lower-income broken home in the Central Valley town of Chowchilla, Fransica Salas had a dream of becoming an FBI agent and helping out her family financially.
But making it into the FBI requires a college degree. How could she pay for college and not take on burdensome student loan debt? For Salas, the answer was to enlist in the California Army National Guard.
“It’s opened up a lot of doors for me that were not opened before,” she said.
During her senior year in high school, she enlisted in the Cal Guard with the intent to pursue an Army commission through the Reserve Officer’s Training Corps (ROTC). Today, Cadet Salas has a 4.0 GPA and is on the Dean’s List at Fresno State University where she is majoring in Forensic Behavioral Science. She’s been awarded a Minuteman Scholarship, which is paying her tuition and fees in full.
The Minuteman Scholarship is an ROTC Guaranteed Reserve Forces Duty (GRFD) scholarship that was introduced in 2015 to enhance the Army Guard and Reserve’s ability to recruit highly qualified cadets. In addition to tuition and fees, the scholarship is providing Salas with a cadet stipend, a book stipend and sergeant’s pay for drilling one weekend a month and two weeks a year. The scholarship pays about $247,540 for the cost of college in return for a six-year commitment to serve as a drilling Guard member, with another two years in the Individual Ready Reserve.
On March 12, Salas told her story to more than a dozen high school counselors who were attending a “Counselor’s Conference” at the Clovis Veterans Memorial District Building in downtown Clovis. She told the counselors how she is the first in her family to attend college and serve in the military. “I’ve persevered to be the best I could be,” she said. “I see roadblocks as stepping stones.”
The Counselor’s Conference was sponsored by the Cal Guard’s 40th Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB) as an opportunity for local-area high school counselors to understand how they can help their students prepare and apply for educational opportunities offered by the U.S. Army, such as ROTC, the Minuteman Scholarship or attending United States Military Academy, also known as West Point.
Col. David Hall, commander of the 40th CAB, would like to see more Central Valley students take advantage of the educational and career options available to them through the Army National Guard. While the 40th CAB is headquartered in Fresno, most of the pilots who fly the Brigade’s helicopters are not from the Central Valley. Hall is hoping more students from the local area take an interest in flying his helicopters.
“We are not filling the scholarship opportunities available to kids in the Central Valley,” Hall said. “The Army National Guard offers numerous opportunities for students to get their college education fully funded if they are willing to serve, yet still pursue a civilian career and stay local, and even fly helicopters for the 40th CAB.”
Hall, who is a graduate of West Point, is also hoping more local kids will see his alma mater as a higher education option.
Capt. Raphael Waruinge, a diversity executive admissions officer for West Point, spoke at the conference to inform the counselors on how they can get students into West Point. Waruinge said that slots for West Point are going unfilled in many congressional districts because students are unaware that West Point is an option for them or do not know the proper steps to apply. Waruinge explained that cadets at West Point pay no tuition or room and board and that the school’s science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and liberal arts programs are some of the best in the nation. In addition, West Point instills in its cadets excellent leadership skills, he explained.
“You should look at us a leadership factory,” he said. “That’s what we do. We create leaders.”
Also speaking at the conference were the Cal Guard’s Central Valley Officer Strength Manager Capt. Jason Boatwright and Fresno State Military Science Department chair and professor Lt. Col. Joshua Lunsford.
Following the conference, Boatwright led the counselors on a tour of the Cal Guard’s 1106th
Theater Aviation Sustainment Maintenance Group (TASMG) hangar in Fresno.
Ruben Amavisca, a counselor at Hanford West High School, said several students at Hanford West enlist in the military every year. He said he didn’t know about the Minuteman Scholarship before the Counselor’s Conference. “I’ve got a lot of kids who don’t want to leave the area,” he said. “That’s the biggest fear is that if they join the Army, they’re going to have to leave. But with the Guard they have the option of staying here.”
Allen Smith, a teacher and counselor at Madera High School, said his daughter is attending the Air Force Academy, and his son, who is a junior in high school, is interested in ROTC. “I learned a lot today because I didn’t have any of this info with my daughter,” he said. “We have a number of kids at Madera who want to enlist but who should know about these options available to them.”
| Date Taken: | 03.20.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 04.13.2020 17:47 |
| Story ID: | 367287 |
| Location: | CLOVIS, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 58 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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