Four USMMA Midshipmen Receive Crowley Scholarships

(L to R): Midshipman Brian Griffin (Crowley Scholarship recipient); Midshipman Robert Reese (CII Award recipient); CAPT Jon Helmick; Director USMMA Logistics & Intermodal Transportation Program; Midshipman Samantha Skeens (Crowley Scholarship recipient), Mark Miller, Director of Corporate Communications, Crowley; Midshipman Tormod Engvig (Crowley Scholarship recipient); Midshipman Justin Mitchell (Crowley Scholarship recipient); CAPT Don Ferguson, USMMA Director of External Affairs

Continuing its support of students wishing to enter maritime, transportation and logistics fields, Crowley Maritime Corporation last week presented four U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) midshipmen with Thomas B. Crowley Sr. memorial scholarships totaling $10,000.

Mark Miller, director of corporate communications for Crowley, recognized Samantha Adrianne Skeens, Tormod Engvig, Brian Griffin and Justin Mitchell during the Containerization and Intermodal Institutes annual luncheon at the Newark Club in Newark, New Jersey.

Skeens, from Hydeville, Vt., has a 3.48 GPA and has received eight academic stars. She also served as one of the academys delegates to the Naval Academy Foreign Affairs Conference and has sailed aboard the Maersk Constellation, CSX Anchorage, USNS Laramie, USNS Supply and USNS Rappahannock.

Engvig, originally from Oslo, Norway, moved to San Francisco, Calif., with his family in 1991. He is currently a first classman and regimental human relations training officer at the academy as well as a senior crewmember of the M/V Growler, an ex- Coast Guard harbor tug attached to the Academys waterfront.

Griffin is a senior from Towson, Md. He is the academys regimental waterfront officer, the skipper of the M/V Storm and co-president of the Christian Fellowship Club.

Mitchell is a marine transportation major and has earned five academic stars while at the academy. He was junior class president, a drill instructor for the class of 2006, a member of the color guard, a crewmember for two years with the varsity offshore team and editor of the midshipman newspaper.

Crowley has provided scholarship aid to USMMA students since 1993. To qualify, students must obtain a predetermined grade point average (GPA) and posses leadership skills identified by the college and by Crowley.

The recipients are chosen each year in the spring and fall by the academy but arent formally recognized until December. Crowley also extends formal internships when possible as an additional benefit to the scholarship recipients.

Over the years, Crowley has given tens of thousands of dollars to deserving students at the maritime academies and other select institutions in the name of Thomas B. Crowley Sr., who guided the company to extraordinary heights before passing away in 1994. Tom Crowley Jr., his son, is now chairman, president and CEO.