Scholarship program at Fishburne helps children of disabled vets

Josiah Pleasants’ grandparents, Michael and Janet Pleasants, have been raising him basically since birth. Last year, the Pleasants enrolled their grandson as a freshman at Fishburne Military School to put him on track academically to go to college.

Michael Pleasants is a disabled military veteran, so it’s not easy making a private-school tuition.

A new scholarship available to Fishburne students through the NewDay USA Foundation, whose CEO, Rob Posner, is a 1987 alum of FMS, will make it possible for Josiah to continue and finish his secondary education at Fishburne.

“When you walk through the airport, and you see service men and women who are in uniform, it’s great to go over and thank them for their service. But this for us is demonstrative in our way of being able to say, You served our country, we want to serve you,” said Mike Shriver, the executive vice president of the NewDay USA Foundation.

NewDay USA is focused from a business standpoint on being able to provide military veterans and their families with products that help them provide financial stability in their lives, Shriver said.

“It’s a natural focus for us to create scholarships that recognize the service that veterans have given to our country,” Shriver said.

FMS Superintendent Col. Gary Morrison said the NewDay USA scholarship program is “an amazing gift to the fathers and mothers who have made the ultimate sacrifice and now don’t have the earning potential to do the kind of things that they would like to do.”

To Josiah Pleasants, it’s a “tremendous honor” that will allow him to complete his high-school education at Fishburne.

“Fishburne is a really great school. It’s helped me with my academics. It’s helped me become a better person. Anything that we need help with, Fishburne can provide it,” Pleasants said.

“The scholarship means a lot to me, and it means a lot to my family. It’s incredible to me that I was able to receive it,” Pleasants said.