John Paul Schilling, a veteran wounded in Iraq, enrolled this fall at Texas A&M University at Galveston (TAMUG) thanks to a scholarship from the McDaniel Charitable Foundation.

Based in Texas City, the McDaniel Charitable Foundation’s Lyons Scholars Program assists incoming TAMUG freshman from Galveston County who need financial support to pursue studies in marine and maritime fields. The McDaniel Foundation funded the program in June 2009 with a $400,000 “pass-through” gift, meaning the money can be put to use immediately — and it has been. Schilling is one of 20 students benefiting from the four-year Lyons scholarships.

To help these Sea Aggies adjust to the demands of college life, a graduate student advises them as part of a learning community. The scholarship requires they progress toward a TAMUG degree, but recipients are not required to maintain a specific grade average. 

Schilling, a marine engineering technology major, says the scholarship has changed his life. “Without the Lyons scholarship, there is no way I would be able to go to a four-year university. This scholarship keeps my bills paid as well as my school expenses, and without it I would practically be on the streets. I cannot thank the McDaniel Foundation enough for its generosity.”  

Schilling, 26, was a military police officer and K-9 handler in Iraq and Afghanistan until being disabled by an improvised explosive device. When he returned to Texas, Schilling married and now has a 5-month-old son. Because of gaps in GI Bill coverage, he couldn’t afford college, so he went to work — but the company subsequently went out of business. That’s when he decided to go back to school. Dr. Donna Lang, associate vice president for enrollment management and outreach at TAMUG, told him about the Lyons scholarship.

The McDaniel Charitable Foundation funded Schilling’s scholarship through the Texas A&M Foundation, a private nonprofit organization that solicits and manages investments in academics and leadership programs to benefit Texas A&M. The Foundation leads Operation Spirit and Mind^SM a multiyear $300 million scholarship initiative on behalf of Texas A&M.

To learn more about Operation Spirit and Mind, contact Jody Ford ’99 at the Texas A&M Foundation: (800) 392-3310. For gifts specific to TAMUG, contact Jack O’Brien at (409) 741-4030.