Honoring Those who have served our Country – Veteran’s Day and Every Day
What Service Means to Us
There are many words in the English language that get tossed around quite a bit – so often, in fact, they lose some of the meaning and power they once held. ‘Service’ is one of those words. We use it all the time to refer to a great many aspects of modern life, and often it becomes background noise. We don’t pause to think about the word really means – especially when it comes to the service rendered by those of us who enter the armed forces to defend our country and make the world a better place.
The Marines and other branches of the military risk their lives every day to fight terrorism, to help defenseless people everywhere, and to ensure that our democracy and way of life are preserved for future generations. We often sum up the immense sacrifices – sacrifices that go far beyond the risking of lives and reverberate back onto people’s family’s – with the simple word ‘service’ without truly pausing to consider what that word means.
Brother in Arms
Steven A. Leahy knows what Service means from the perspective of a Marine’s family. His brother served in the Marine Corps, and Steven learned firsthand what kind of sacrifices are made not only by the serving individual, but by their family. Every family has its challenges – financial, emotional, and spiritual – but families who have members serving in the marines and other armed forces have a special burden. Steven A. Leahy knows because he lived it, firsthand.
This inspired him to reach out and do something to help families like his who have members serving in the Marine Corps – and to help bring better lawyers into the world at the same time, lawyers who have had the values of the Marine Corps instilled in them, lawyers for whom service is not just a vague concept, but a powerful reality.
The result of this desire is the Marine Appreciation – Law School Scholarship.
The scholarship will give $1,000 towards tuition or books to one applicant who meets all of the requirements:
• 18 years old or older
• a current law student attending or planning to attend an accredited law school
• who has served in the Marines or had a family member serve in the Marines
• who has maintained a GPA of at least 3.0 in undergraduate or current law school work
Applicants will write and submit a 1-3 page essay describing their experiences and the impact of the service and sacrifice to their family. All materials and the application must be submitted by June 30th, 2015 to Scholarship@it-lawyer.com or by mail to Steven Leahy, The Law Office of Steven A. Leahy, PC, 150 N Michigan Ave #1120, Chicago, IL 60601. For more information, go to our page dedicated to the law school scholarship.
Service is something that needs to be celebrated – and supported. This scholarship is our way of helping one family so that the service they made possible is rewarded, and passed on to future generations. We hope this stands as inspiration for others to do the same.