East Tennessee Veterans Honor Guard awards scholarships to MC student veterans
July 13, 2022
Three Maryville College student veterans were selected to receive scholarships from the East Tennessee Veterans Honor Guard (ETVHG) through a new partnership with MC’s Military Student Center.
Tyler Ramsey ’23, Robbie Paskiewicz ’23 and Daniel Collins ’25 were each presented $1,000 scholarships during a presentation ceremony on campus on July 13. In addition to the students, representatives from Maryville College and ETVHG were in attendance, including John Speck, U.S. Navy; Nancy McEntee, U.S. Marine Corps; Stuart Hall, U.S. Air Force; and Paul Trotter, U.S. Air Force.
Ramsey served in the U.S. Army and is majoring in finance/accounting, Paskiewicz served in the U.S. Army and is majoring in mathematics for teacher licensure; and Collins served in the U.S. Marine Corps and is majoring in psychology.
The scholarships are meant to help veterans who “exhibit dynamic leadership abilities and have some semblance of how their chosen vocation will further the cause of the veteran and/or general population upon graduation,” said Dave Daniels ’20, director of military outreach and transfer recruiting at MC.
The three students were selected by ETVHG after an interview process held on campus. Eligibility criteria included GPA, leadership in and out of uniform, and financial need. The scholarship funds can be used for anything that will help support the students at Maryville College, such as bookstore purchases, parking fees and campus dining, Daniels said.
“Military Outreach is instrumental in finding resources to support the military-affiliated population,” Daniels said. “When I was approached by Nancy McEntee from the ETVHG about this opportunity, I leaped at it. This started as a thought and morphed into something that neither Nancy nor I could have imagined – and further cements what ‘doing good on the largest possible scale’ embodies.”
ETVHG was established to honor the military service of deceased veterans, but McEntee, scholarship coordinator, said the organization was eager to find another way to give back to veterans in the community.
“The slogan on our van says, ‘Veterans serving veterans,’” McEntee said. “Usually, the ETVHG serves veterans and their families in cemeteries, during a time of grief and sorrow. During the last two years, due to the pandemic, that sorrow became a national grief, with many of the veterans buried locally dying from COVID-19. The requests for our services increased during those two years, as did the generous donations from family members. Our team realized the need to give back to the community. Today, we continue to serve veterans during funerals, but wanted to find another way to support veterans. The ETVHG have been richly blessed. As a measure of our gratitude, we created these scholarships for Maryville College veterans.”
