May 30, 2001

Contact: Robert Lowery (509-963-1487/fax 509-963-2301/email loweryr@cwu.edu)

ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Beginning with the 2001-02 academic year, up to 20 full-time Central Washington University students who are enlisted in the Washington National Guard will received 25 percent tuition waivers. During a recent (MAY 18) ceremony on the Ellensburg campus, President Jerilyn S. McIntyre and Maj. Gen. Timothy J. Lowenberg, adjutant general of the Washington National Guard signed documents authorizing the new partnership.

"When I meet current and future cadets, it's always a marvelous group of students," McIntyre said. "It just shows why this is a good thing to do. It's a benefit to the institution to have those deserving young people here. It's a benefit to them as well, because it helps them come to college and gives them leadership experience. It's a mutually beneficial partnership and we're glad to be part of it."

Lowenberg added: "Like many of the students at this university, I come from a small town, rural background, and ROTC is what opened the world for me. It helped me work my way through both undergraduate classes and law school. ROTC has had a life-altering affect on me personally and I know it will for the students whose windows of opportunity will be opened widely because of the new program here."

Under the new accord, students may use the new CWU tuition waivers in conjunction with other National Guard educational funds for all but summer quarter classes.

"We have a saying in the Washington military department, 'One team, one vision building the future together,'" Lowenberg pointed out, "and I really believe we are building futures for many deserving people."

During the ceremony, Sgt. 1st Class James Blackheart, Yakima, also received the prestigious adjutant general's coin to acknowledge his efforts to initiate the new program.