thedrifter
02-17-08, 07:09 AM
At Ave Maria, the few, the proud Marines to be honored
By LIAM DILLON
Friday, February 15, 2008
Six Marines gathered in a third-floor conference room at Ave Maria University, dressed in nothing less formal than a sharp tie, to discuss the impact of service on their lives.
Around the table sat Cpl. Stephen Henley, 22, an Ave Maria junior who served seven months in Iraq; Cpl. David Fernandez, 22, an Ave Maria freshman who served 13 months in Iraq; Pfc. Nick O’Conner, 18, an Ave Maria freshman and Lely High grad who just finished boot camp; Lance Cpl. Andrew Steele, 32, an Ave Maria junior who last served in 1999; retired Maj. Gen. J.T. Coyne, a member of the school’s board of regents and retired Cpl. Tom Monaghan, the school’s founder.
“This is the largest fraternity there is,” Fernandez said. “That’s also transposed to here. We just know that there’s another Marine in the same facilities that we’re at. We have that sense of brotherhood that’s always going to follow us.”
The four students are recipients of the school’s Marine Scholarship, which provides a full four-year tuition at the school for Marines, special forces from other branches of the armed forces and all combat veterans. They will be honored along with Marine Cpl. Josh Kubarii, a sophomore and Iraq veteran, and Army Capt. James Bechard, who is currently serving in Afghanistan, at Saturday’s annual black-tie “Gyrene Gala” held at 6 p.m. at the Naples Grande Resort.
The event’s keynote speaker will be retired Marine Gen. John J. Sheehan, a former top NATO commander and high-level Pentagon adviser who grabbed headlines last spring after turning down the position of “war czar” to oversee the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, citing a lack of direction from the Bush administration.
During the ceremony, Sheehan will be inducted into the school’s Gallery of Gyrene Greats along with posthumous inductions of the Rev. Vincent Capodanno, a Medal of Honor recipient who was killed in a Vietnam War battle while serving as a Marine chaplain, and Cardinal John O’Connor, the former Archbishop of New York and a Marine chaplain.
For Monaghan, 70, the time he spent in the Marines was some of the most formative in his life. He enlisted in the Marines in 1956, thinking he was signing up for the Army as a way to save money for college.
During his three years of service, he spent time in Japan and the Philippines. During down time, he read for long durations and left feeling he could speak with anyone about any topic with confidence.
“It was like an intellectual Renaissance taking place for me in the Marines,” Monaghan said.
His affinity for the Marines in the Ave Maria conference room was clear. At one point during the discussion, he pulled a digital camera from his pocket and snapped a few pictures.
The annual gala serves as a fundraiser for the school’s scholarship program, but is just one of many Marine Corps influences on the school. Ave Maria’s nickname is the “Gyrenes,” a term used for Marines. Its mascot is a bulldog, like the Marines’ famous “Chesty.” The school’s bulldog, “Jax,” wore a blue-and-red Velcro Marines cape during a press conference last month to announce Ave Maria’s new athletic director.
On the surface, the association between the Marines and Ave Maria isn’t readily apparent. But Monaghan said the connection strikes to the university’s core mission. The role of the Marines on campus, Monaghan said, is like a “leavening” agent, a group whose leadership raises the level of the general student body.
“We did this university because we want to change the world,” he said. “I’ve always felt that Marine Corps training is the best leadership training there is. It just made sense to me that we bring in students who have this kind of experience, which is unavailable anywhere else.
“Marines typically are idealistic, and if they aren’t they become that way. They rise to a higher level of being human beings. The environment that we promote here, with the strong spiritual and strong academics and strong student life, we create great leaders to go out in the world.”
Coyne added there was a “natural marriage” between the values of honor, courage and commitment promoted by the Marines and Ave Maria’s theological values.
“You bring in someone even if he considers himself non-religious; if he comes from the Marine Corps he has maybe a secular religion,” Coyne said. “He’s got a belief that there are enduring values that are meaningful, that are essential not only to a good Marine Corps, but a good society.”
Henley’s story would seem to epitomize the type of Marine-student Ave Maria would hope to recruit. He spent time in a Catholic seminary and after deciding his vocation wasn’t in the priesthood, enlisted in the Marine reserves. His story is featured on much of the scholarship’s promotional material.
“My Catholic faith is what brought me through boot camp and the arduous times of Marine Corps training,” Henley said.
Like many of Ave Maria’s plans, its Marine scholarship program is ambitious. Once the school reaches its build-out projections of 1,100 freshmen entering per year, Monaghan expects 40 to 50 of those students would be Marines all on full scholarship. That’s a sizeable enough percentage to have at least one Marine in every platoon-sized group of new students.
The Marines currently at the school already see themselves as leaders.
“Everybody is fully active at all times,” Henley said. “That’s a parallel I see with the Marine Corps. There’s always something to do, there’s always a little further you can go with your education and your spiritual life in all aspects.”
Ellie
By LIAM DILLON
Friday, February 15, 2008
Six Marines gathered in a third-floor conference room at Ave Maria University, dressed in nothing less formal than a sharp tie, to discuss the impact of service on their lives.
Around the table sat Cpl. Stephen Henley, 22, an Ave Maria junior who served seven months in Iraq; Cpl. David Fernandez, 22, an Ave Maria freshman who served 13 months in Iraq; Pfc. Nick O’Conner, 18, an Ave Maria freshman and Lely High grad who just finished boot camp; Lance Cpl. Andrew Steele, 32, an Ave Maria junior who last served in 1999; retired Maj. Gen. J.T. Coyne, a member of the school’s board of regents and retired Cpl. Tom Monaghan, the school’s founder.
“This is the largest fraternity there is,” Fernandez said. “That’s also transposed to here. We just know that there’s another Marine in the same facilities that we’re at. We have that sense of brotherhood that’s always going to follow us.”
The four students are recipients of the school’s Marine Scholarship, which provides a full four-year tuition at the school for Marines, special forces from other branches of the armed forces and all combat veterans. They will be honored along with Marine Cpl. Josh Kubarii, a sophomore and Iraq veteran, and Army Capt. James Bechard, who is currently serving in Afghanistan, at Saturday’s annual black-tie “Gyrene Gala” held at 6 p.m. at the Naples Grande Resort.
The event’s keynote speaker will be retired Marine Gen. John J. Sheehan, a former top NATO commander and high-level Pentagon adviser who grabbed headlines last spring after turning down the position of “war czar” to oversee the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, citing a lack of direction from the Bush administration.
During the ceremony, Sheehan will be inducted into the school’s Gallery of Gyrene Greats along with posthumous inductions of the Rev. Vincent Capodanno, a Medal of Honor recipient who was killed in a Vietnam War battle while serving as a Marine chaplain, and Cardinal John O’Connor, the former Archbishop of New York and a Marine chaplain.
For Monaghan, 70, the time he spent in the Marines was some of the most formative in his life. He enlisted in the Marines in 1956, thinking he was signing up for the Army as a way to save money for college.
During his three years of service, he spent time in Japan and the Philippines. During down time, he read for long durations and left feeling he could speak with anyone about any topic with confidence.
“It was like an intellectual Renaissance taking place for me in the Marines,” Monaghan said.
His affinity for the Marines in the Ave Maria conference room was clear. At one point during the discussion, he pulled a digital camera from his pocket and snapped a few pictures.
The annual gala serves as a fundraiser for the school’s scholarship program, but is just one of many Marine Corps influences on the school. Ave Maria’s nickname is the “Gyrenes,” a term used for Marines. Its mascot is a bulldog, like the Marines’ famous “Chesty.” The school’s bulldog, “Jax,” wore a blue-and-red Velcro Marines cape during a press conference last month to announce Ave Maria’s new athletic director.
On the surface, the association between the Marines and Ave Maria isn’t readily apparent. But Monaghan said the connection strikes to the university’s core mission. The role of the Marines on campus, Monaghan said, is like a “leavening” agent, a group whose leadership raises the level of the general student body.
“We did this university because we want to change the world,” he said. “I’ve always felt that Marine Corps training is the best leadership training there is. It just made sense to me that we bring in students who have this kind of experience, which is unavailable anywhere else.
“Marines typically are idealistic, and if they aren’t they become that way. They rise to a higher level of being human beings. The environment that we promote here, with the strong spiritual and strong academics and strong student life, we create great leaders to go out in the world.”
Coyne added there was a “natural marriage” between the values of honor, courage and commitment promoted by the Marines and Ave Maria’s theological values.
“You bring in someone even if he considers himself non-religious; if he comes from the Marine Corps he has maybe a secular religion,” Coyne said. “He’s got a belief that there are enduring values that are meaningful, that are essential not only to a good Marine Corps, but a good society.”
Henley’s story would seem to epitomize the type of Marine-student Ave Maria would hope to recruit. He spent time in a Catholic seminary and after deciding his vocation wasn’t in the priesthood, enlisted in the Marine reserves. His story is featured on much of the scholarship’s promotional material.
“My Catholic faith is what brought me through boot camp and the arduous times of Marine Corps training,” Henley said.
Like many of Ave Maria’s plans, its Marine scholarship program is ambitious. Once the school reaches its build-out projections of 1,100 freshmen entering per year, Monaghan expects 40 to 50 of those students would be Marines all on full scholarship. That’s a sizeable enough percentage to have at least one Marine in every platoon-sized group of new students.
The Marines currently at the school already see themselves as leaders.
“Everybody is fully active at all times,” Henley said. “That’s a parallel I see with the Marine Corps. There’s always something to do, there’s always a little further you can go with your education and your spiritual life in all aspects.”
Ellie