{"id":1579,"date":"2017-03-13T01:14:57","date_gmt":"2017-03-13T05:14:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/veterans\/?p=1579"},"modified":"2024-02-13T08:32:36","modified_gmt":"2024-02-13T13:32:36","slug":"raytheon-plus-spc-veteran-students-equals-ride-2-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/veterans\/raytheon-plus-spc-veteran-students-equals-ride-2-recovery\/","title":{"rendered":"Raytheon plus SPC Veteran Students equals Ride 2 Recovery"},"content":{"rendered":"

What do Raytheon and four student veterans working in a cycling center have in common?\u00a0 They are all linked to St Petersburg College, the Veterans Administration and Ride 2 Recovery (a national non-profit dedicated to the recovery and rehabilitation of injured veterans through cycling).<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2016, Raytheon funded a grant to help establish a cycling center at St Petersburg College’s (SPC) Clearwater campus to help students and veterans in the community.\u00a0 The center was provided bicycles by the VA\u00a0and was partially staffed by an employee of Ride 2 Recovery.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the center became more popular and demand increased, it became clear that the operating hours of the center needed to expand.\u00a0 This is where Raytheon, one of its employees (Kelly McDonald) and a Raytheon retiree (Mitch Lee) came to the rescue.\u00a0 All three contributed financially to fund a scholarship for three student veterans to work in the center while continuing their pursuit of a college degree.\u00a0 Additionally, SPC funded another student veteran.<\/span><\/p>\n

The result was a cycling center open six days a week, including three nights and Saturday mornings.\u00a0 The center is located in Building SS, Room 105 on SPC’s Clearwater campus.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Raytheon employee and retiree believed so strongly in this cause that they contributed their own funds to support the scholarship – a creative solution that linked Raytheon, the college and four student veterans together.\u00a0 This novel approach is now available to any Raytheon employee wishing to help.\u00a0 The SPC scholarship is an approved donation option for employees.\u00a0 It is also matched by Raytheon funding.\u00a0 Non-Raytheon donors can also give to this scholarship fund by contacting Frances Neu of the SPC Foundation.<\/span><\/p>\n

So who are these student veterans?\u00a0 Meet Andrew, Will, Taylor and John (shown below – also shown is Kelly McDonald of Raytheon. All four student veterans are pursuing bachelor degrees. Check out their bios below.\u00a0 Want to meet these hard working student veterans?\u00a0 Simple.\u00a0 Just stop by the cycling center at SPC (Clearwater Campus).\u00a0 While there, check out the bikes and services offered by the center to all students.<\/span><\/p>\n

Andrew Bang: <\/span>A Coast Guard veteran of 10 years.\u00a0 Served as a helicopter technician.\u00a0 Also tutors high school students 12 hours a week, in addition to maintaining a 3.5 GPA at SPC in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree in business administration.<\/span><\/p>\n

John Danczyk: <\/span>An Army veteran of 9 years.\u00a0 Served in the Air Defense Branch of the US Army. \u00a0 Worked with Raytheon while serving with a Theater Area Air Defense (THAAD) battery.\u00a0 Still serves as an active member of the Army National Guard while maintaining a 3.0 GPA in pursuit of a bachelors degree in sustainability.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Taylor Remmington: <\/span>A Navy veteran of 5 years.\u00a0 Served as an engineering technician on board a nuclear submarine, USS Charlotte (SSN766). Performed and supervised navigation, electromechanical, sensing and alarming electronics systems maintenance.\u00a0 Was awarded the Navy Achievement medal.\u00a0 Maintains a 3.7 GPA while pursuing a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering.<\/span><\/p>\n

William Curley: <\/span>A Navy veteran of 24 years.\u00a0 Last served as a Chief Petty Officer on board the USS New York, an amphibious landing assault ship for helicopters, in charge of all aviation fuels.\u00a0 Maintains a 3.1 GPA while pursuing a bachelors degree in education.\u00a0 Works 20 hours in the cycling center.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Left to right: Jeff Cavanagh (Veteran Services), Taylor Remmington, William Curley, Kelly McDonald, Mitch Lee and Andrew Bang.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What do Raytheon and four student veterans working in a cycling center have in common?\u00a0 They are all linked to St Petersburg College, the Veterans Administration and Ride 2 Recovery (a national non-profit dedicated to the recovery and rehabilitation of injured veterans through cycling). In 2016, Raytheon funded a grant to help establish a cycling … Continue reading Raytheon plus SPC Veteran Students equals Ride 2 Recovery<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[1,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-news","category-student-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/veterans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/veterans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/veterans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/veterans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/veterans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1579"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/veterans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1581,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/veterans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1579\/revisions\/1581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/veterans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/veterans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/veterans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}