Incoming Veteran Student Awarded ‘Help A Hero’ Scholarship

Published 07.14.2016

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An incoming first-year student at Pennsylvania College of Technology has been awarded a $5,000 scholarship administered by the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

The “Sport Clips Help A Hero Scholarship,” awarded jointly by the VFW and the national Sport Clips Haircuts chain, was granted to Preston A. Emert, of Montoursville, a veteran and member of the Army National Guard who will begin classes as a pre-nursing major during the Fall 2016 semester.



"Help A Hero" scholarship awarded to Penn College student“I want to become a nurse so I can continue to help people like I did by serving my country,” said Emert, who works at Susquehanna Health as a patient care technician in the emergency room. “Being able to save people’s lives and make a difference in people’s lives makes me happy. Working in an ER reminds me of being deployed. There is constantly something happening. The adrenaline rush is the same.”

Emert was an active-duty member of the Army from April 2006 to September 2014, deployed once to Iraq and twice to Afghanistan.

Sport Clips expanded its partnership with the VFW in 2013, introducing the Help A Hero Scholarship Program to help ease veterans' sometimes-difficult transition from military life to the civilian workplace. To date, Sport Clips has helped provide more than $2 million in scholarships to active-duty service members and veterans.

“It would be an honor to be able to continue serving my community by becoming a registered nurse,” Emert added. “Nothing will ever compare to being in the military, but nursing is pretty close.”

Penn College has been named a Military Friendly School for seven consecutive years, with a full-time Veterans Affairs coordinator in the Financial Aid Office – himself an Army veteran – to discuss educational opportunities for servicemen and women.

For information about Penn College, a national leader in applied technology education and workforce development, email the Admissions Office or call toll-free 800-367-9222.