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                         February 6, 2004

Academy honored

West Point receives award from Marshall Committee

By Jim Fox
Assistant Editor  

The British Consulate General for New York presented the U.S. Military Academy with the Marshall Scholarship Center of Excellence Award Jan. 30 during a ceremony in the Thayer Award room. The award commemorates 50 years of Marshall Scholarships.

The scholarship program was established in 1953 in honor of George C. Marshall and his contributions to Britain during and after WWII. The program finances young Americans to study for their degrees in the United Kingdom. The committee selects up to 40 scholars a year to study at the graduate -- or occasionally undergraduate -- level in any field of study.

Twenty-four cadets have been named Marshal Scholars during the 21 years of USMA’s participation. West Point ranks seventh nationally in that span; Navy and Air Force posted 14 and eight scholars, respectively, in the same amount of time.

The New York Marshall Committee Secretary, Dr. Ray Raymond, said only a few institutions have received this award and West Point and Columbia are the only two in his area.

“What we sought to do was identify those universities and colleges that had achieved outstanding results and put enormous effort into the preparation process,” Raymond said. “We took the commitment to excellence seriously.

“West Point is at the top of that list.”

Raymond said the academy has consistently produced competitive candidates.

“The academy’s record of 24 scholars in 21 years is a record of consistent and unequaled high achievement,” he said. “Each year, despite the intensifying competition, West Point candidates have regularly outperformed students from … Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Columbia.”

USMA Class of 1994 member, Capt. Scott Rhind, is and member of the scholarship committee. As a cadet, he was named a Marshal Scholar and said his studies at Oxford helped give him a different view of not only U.S. commitments in the world, but also how the Army could realize U.S. interests.

“I also had an appreciation for the British people and the British government and how our two countries work toward common ends,” the infantry officer said.

He said being at Oxford was also a welcome change after his four-year West Point experience.

“West Point is a rigorous, time-sensitive environment whereas the Oxford experience is much more reflective,” he explained. “Combining the two helped me get to know myself better, my strengths, my abilities.

“That combination of West Point rigor and Oxford introspection is (very) powerful,” he added.

USMA Dean of the Academic Board, Brig. Gen. Daniel Kaufman, accepted the award for the academy. He said the scholarship program works well at highlighting West Point’s mission.

“The Marshall Scholarships do several things,” Kaufman said. “First, they show the quality of the young people we have coming to this institution. Second, they show the quality of the academic and professional preparation programs we have here.”

He said those programs help make the cadets competitive with students in the best colleges across the nation.

“It gives our graduates an opportunity to study at world-class universities in the United Kingdom, preparing them even better for their responsibilities as commissioned officers,” Kaufman said.