Legion helps college student focus on academics, soccer
Jason and Naomi Falkenberg of Sutton, Mass. Photo of courtesy of Naomi Falkenberg

Legion helps college student focus on academics, soccer

While playing in the girls soccer state championships her senior year of high school, Naomi Falkenberg fractured her face as the goal keeper. But it didn’t stop her from finishing the last five minutes of the game and then on to see her high school win. That “perseverance, resilience, being the best you can be” are qualities she learned from her father, Jason, a retired Army veteran and Legionnaire with an illness that has impacted his quality of life.

Even with his illness, “my father is always pushing through and I think that’s an admirable quality that I’ve taken because in sports I’m not one to back out, even if I’m hurt,” said Falkenberg of Sutton, Mass. “As a kid I was always inspired and impressed by everything he did. I thought he was the coolest man in the world and I still do. He is really a hero for me.”

Falkenberg is finishing her freshman year at Smith College in Northampton, Mass., where she was recruited to play on the soccer team as the starting goal keeper. Her ability to juggle academics of studying to be a doctor and playing soccer with six practices a week has been made easier thanks to The American Legion’s Legacy Scholarship. Falkenberg’s hero, her father, made her eligible for the scholarship.

The Legacy Scholarship is available for children whose parents lost their lives while honorably serving on active duty on or after 9/11, as well as for children of post-9/11 veterans with a combined 50 percent or higher VA disability rating. The renewable scholarship will award up to $20,000 for the expense of graduate or post-graduate tuition, books, room and board, meal plans, transportation and other supplies needed to achieve a higher education.

“When I got (The American Legion Legacy Scholarship) I was just so excited and grateful. The scholarship made it easier to play soccer, and it really allows me to pursue my academics rather than having to think about getting a part-time job,” Falkenberg said. “My father was so happy and relieved because (the Legacy Scholarship) takes financial stress off him. It was just a relief of wanting the best for me. And the fact that he was able to help me in some manner that way, I feel like it filled him with a lot of pride and happiness.”

Through her studies of becoming a doctor, Falkenberg hopes to help others, like The American Legion, the way they have helped her.

“When you have a cause like The American Legion and the (Legacy) scholarship surrounding it, it’s an act of selflessness and generosity that I feel like myself and others are extremely grateful for this opportunity,” Falkenberg said. “Being able to pay back, what comes around goes around, putting a little bit of investment into somebody else to make them grow is just such a big part of helping each other reach our goals and be able to form this community that can help everyone thrive.”