A student at Syracuse University was recently awarded the 2016 SoldierScholar Scholarship.

The SoldierStrong scholarship is meant to provide financial aid for post-9/11 veterans who wish to continue their education in public service, said Christopher Meek, chairman of the board. A recipient is chosen based on post-9/11 service, financial need, GPA and educational and professional aspirations, and Jordan Robinson, a graduate student studying public diplomacy at SU, was the recipient.

Robinson was in the Marine Corps for six years where her primary job was embassy security. She was a Marine security guard staff sergeant at American embassies in Mozambique, Austria and Cuba.

“Our perspective is that veterans should have a free college and be able to go wherever they want, not just wherever they can afford,” Meek said.

Robinson was selected for her service in the Marine Corps and her ambitions to pursue public diplomacy, Meek said. The organization likes to see people transfer their leadership skills from the military to the private sector.

“Jordan not only had unique service but also an impressive goal to work toward a diplomacy degree,” Meek said. “… Jordan wants to be a foreign service officer to continue serving our country, just out of uniform.”

Robinson said it doesn’t matter where she ends up because she will make a difference in anything she does. She described herself as a passionate and driven person.

Robinson was the president of the Student Veterans Organization at SU. In her role she worked toward advocating for veterans, military-connected students and military family members.

“I have seen a lot of the world through the military. I enjoyed the work that I did with different nationalities and getting to understand the different cultures, and see the influence that our government has on other countries but their influence on us has,” Robinson said. “I’ve always been interested in diplomacy and promoting American interest. I’m a patriot at heart.”

Robinson is currently in the process of becoming a foreign service officer where she will serve at embassies abroad. Her ultimate goal is to be the public affairs officer at an embassy and hopefully one day become an ambassador, Robinson said.

This is the third year the scholarship has been awarded to a student at SU, and Robinson is the first female recipient at SU, said Robert Murrett, a member of the advisory board.

“Jordan is a terrific student but also someone with a terrific background,” Murrett said. “She was stationed overseas in several different countries and showed the importance of us engaging around the world and I think she will have more of a role in that in the future.”

Published on November 17, 2016 at 9:01 pm