The Disabled American Veterans Jesse Brown Memorial Scholarship

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

P.O. BOX 2120

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 23218-2120

SUPTS. MEMO NO. 128

July 1, 2005

INFORMATIONAL

TO:

Division Superintendents

FROM:

Jo Lynne DeMary

Superintendent of Public Instruction

SUBJECT:

The Disabled American Veterans Jesse Brown Memorial Scholarship

In memory of the late Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Jesse Brown, the Disabled American Veterans organization has established the Jesse Brown Memorial Youth Scholarship program. Mr. Brown devoted himself to the cause of building better lives for Americas disabled veterans.

The Jesse Brown Memorial Youth Scholarship program encourages young volunteers to play active roles in the Department of Veterans Affairs Voluntary Service (VAVS) programs. It recognizes outstanding young volunteers who give their time to helping disabled American veterans by awarding annual scholarships that may be used to continue their education.

The Disabled American Veterans (DAV) offers twelve scholarships with a combined annual value of $80,000. The scholarship provides for a first-place prize, which includes a $15,000 scholarship and an expense paid trip to DAVs National Convention for the winner and his/her parent(s)and/or guardian(s) for the award presentation. The second-place prize consists of a $10,000 scholarship. Two third-place prizes consist of $7,500 scholarships each, and eight fourth-place prizes consist of $5,000 scholarships each.

Scholarships can be awarded to any student who is age 21 or younger and has volunteered for a minimum of 100 hours at a Veteran Administration (VA) medical center during the previous calendar year. All volunteer hours must be credited to the Disabled American Veterans. Scholarships can be used at any accredited institution of higher learning including universities, colleges, community colleges, vocational schools, and others. Scholarships must be utilized in full prior to the recipient attaining the age of 25.

Employees of the DAV national organization and their families are not eligible to receive a scholarship. The Voluntary Services Program manager at the VA Medical Center, DAV Department Commander, may submit nominations for this award or the student may complete a self-nomination form. Applications for the 2006 Jesse Brown Memorial Youth Scholarship program will be accepted between September 1, 2005, and February 27, 2006. You can access additional information from the website at http://www.dav.org/volunteers/jesse_brown_scholarship.html.

For further information, please contact the Disabled American Veterans National Service and Legislative Headquarters, Voluntary Services Department (www.dav.org), 807 Maine Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20024-2710, or Dr. Willie Stroble (mailto:willie.stroble@doe.virginia.gov), school counseling specialist, Office of Middle and High School Instruction at 804-786-9377.

JLD/WLS/yba