Navy League Establishes Scholarship to Honor USS Mississippi

MERIDIAN, Miss. (NNS) -- Meridian Area Navy League members, USS Mississippi commissioning committee members and representatives from the University of Mississippi gathered Jan. 18 to announce the establishment of a new scholarship.

Meridian Area Navy League members worked for a year to raise funds for the commissioning of the Virginia-class attack submarine USS Mississippi (SSN 782), and after the commissioning in 2012, they still had money left over.

The remaining funds were used to establish a scholarship at the University of Mississippi to benefit dependants of USS Mississippi Sailors or Mississippi natives who will participate in the NROTC program at the university.

An endowment check for $40,000 was presented by the USS Mississippi Commissioning Chairman Mark McDonald, Co-Chairman retired Navy Capt. Curt Goldacker and Meridian Area Navy League President Arjen Lagendijk to Denson Hollis, senior director of development for the College of Liberal Arts.

"The life span of the USS Mississippi is expected to be at least 30 years," Goldacker said. "We expect this foundation to run well past that."

The University of Mississippi was selected to receive the scholarship endowment because it is the only college in the state that has an active Navy ROTC.

Lagendijk said that the fund raising was an effort of many people across the state that joined together with Goldacker, McDonald and Tom McGuire, a long time member of the Navy League.

"Without these three gentlemen and a lot of other folks, this wouldn't have happened," Lagendijk said. "To say that we can raise money and have some left over for something like this is pretty neat."

Hollis said the plan is to award a $2,000 scholarship beginning in the Fall of 2014.

"A different student will get it each year, and first choice would be to a dependent of a USS Mississippi crew member," Hollis said. "If there is not an eligible applicant, the next choice would be to a student from Mississippi. The university, the College of Liberal Arts and the Navy ROTC are just so grateful that they have chosen us to house this money and ensure this scholarship. We'll do our best to make sure the money is used the way they want it to be used."

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For more news from Naval Air Station Meridian, visit www.navy.mil/local/nasmeridian/.