Savoy Resident Awarded Scholarship to University of Maryland Global Campus that Recognizes Volunteer Caregivers of Wounded Servicemembers

Brenden Jewsbury Never Knew a Time When His Mother was Not Suffering from the Ill Effects of Her Military Service. He Recently Developed a YouTube Channel to Help Young People Talk with Older Veterans

by Gil Klein

Adelphi, MD (09/27/2023) — Brenden Jewsbury, a resident of Savoy, Illinois, has been awarded a Pillars of Strength Scholarship to attend University of Maryland Global Campus. The unique scholarship program, which includes full tuition and fees, recognizes the often-overlooked sacrifices of the volunteer caregivers of wounded, ill or injured military servicemembers.

READ PRESS RELEASE ANNOUNCING All 10 PILLARS OF STRENGTH SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS

Scholarship recipients have devoted years of their lives to caring for their loved one but receive few, if any, federal education benefits, yet many of them are the main family earners. Jewsbury exemplifies the dedication, courage and sacrifice of volunteer caregivers.

He never knew a time when his mother was not suffering from the ill effects of her military career.

Jewsbury was born after Anna Brown served at the Naval Air Station in Keflavik, Iceland, from 1998 to 2004. There, she led a team of 12 servicemembers handling P-3 Orion crypto security communications, a land-based tracker of submarines. That meant 12-hour shifts, day in and day out. Jewsbury's mother monitored Russian submarine activities.

"Her years were spent on an isolated island, in an isolated vault, surrounded by barbed wire with six months of daylight and six months of darkness," Jewsbury said. "The years took a toll of PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder]. Depression set in, leading my mother on her long, stressful journey."

That journey included carpel tunnel surgeries due to her thousands of hours of IT work. She no longer could lift heavy things. She also endured five miscarriages.

"She treasured the gift she had in having me," he said. "She is the hardest working woman I know."

From a young age, Jewsbury had to handle all the household chores that required lifting or extended wrist movement. At times, his mother would sink into a depression that would "knock her out of the fight," he said. He assumed that's how every child lived.

"I never realized how much I did until I found out what other kids did," he said. "You go to a friend's house and you see their mom taking the trash out and doing dishes. Moms can do that? It was engrained in me that they can't. Not until I was older did I realize how much she needed me."

Even after Jewsbury's mother returned to work-he was about 8 years old by then-his mother continued to need help. While he worked his way through community college and through to today, he returns to his mother's home every couple of weekends to do all the household chores that have piled up.

Growing up in the small Illinois town of Pana, Jewsbury went to the local community college on a soccer scholarship but soon had to give up the sport because he needed to work part-time in order to live on his own. He graduated with an associate degree in horticultural science, which fed into his growing love for plants as he worked at a nursery. But now, at 22, he wondered what his next step would be. He wanted to complete his college education-but he needed to figure out how to pay for a degree program.

Jewsbury's mother told him about University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC). She had taken courses at UMGC while based in Iceland, and she had nothing but good things to say about the experience. He already knew he would have to do most of his college work online to be able to continue to work. And he had made an important decision: Instead of a bachelor's degree in horticulture, he would focus on cybersecurity as a pathway to a well-paying career.

While doing his research on UMGC, Jewsbury stumbled across information on the Pillars of Strength Scholarship program, which pays the tuition and other expenses of students who are also caregivers of military members and veterans. Jewsbury applied.

Then came a phone call from UMGC with the question, "If you got the scholarship, would you accept it?"

"I said, 'That's the easiest question you guys have asked me,'" he recalled. "Yeah."

The first thing he did was phone his mother with the news.

"She about blew my eardrum out. She started screaming and hollering, and she wanted everybody's number that was involved so she could personally call and thank them," he said. "She was just about as happy as me."

Jewsbury is geared up to earn his UMGC degree. He is also involved in a side project he launched that connects veterans with young adults for YouTube video conversations.

Over time, Jewsbury has developed an appreciation for both veterans' service and American history. One day while out on a horticultural job, he met an older veteran who seemed lonely and wanted to talk. That gave Jewsbury the idea to develop a YouTube channel where young people could talk to older veterans.

Usually, videos show older veterans talking to older people, he said. Why not talk flip the script and have them talk to young people?

"I have no idea what life was like in 1968," he said. "I want to ask them questions pertaining to my generation. I started by walking through the supermarket and seeing men in Vietnam veterans' hats and asking if they would like to [take part in the project]. A lot of them said, yes."

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