Maggie Nicol ’25  

At Otterbein, we know that military families sacrifice a lot for their country alongside their service member. They shouldn’t have to sacrifice a college education. That’s why Otterbein offers the Otterbein Honoring Service Scholarship to recipients of Folds of Honor and Ohio War Orphans recipients. This scholarship makes an Otterbein education more affordable for the children of these families by providing $20,000 toward an undergraduate degree. 

Sophomore Chris Barker is a recipient of both the Folds of Honor and Otterbein Honoring Service scholarships. His parents’ love for the country has significantly inspired his commitment as a student and for life after graduation. 

On campus, Barker is a sprinter on the track and field team, a member of ROTC, and majors in mechanical engineering. After graduation, he will be commissioned as a second lieutenant officer and will receive additional training and serve for a minimum of four years.  

“Growing up in a military family allowed me to set higher goals than I probably would have if I hadn’t been in the military family. My parents were very focused on making sure I got a STEM degree because that’s what they had. Education is very important to them, and it influenced me in terms of wanting to join the military,” he said.  

Both of Barker’s parents were in the army; his father was an infantry soldiers officer, and his mother was a nurse. “My dad was wounded in Bosnia in the late 1990s and that’s when my parents met, because my mom was a nurse at the Air Force base in Germany,” he said.  

Before they could be together, they maintained a romance via telephone calls and letters for two years since they were on different tours of duty, Barker explained.  

His mother retired from the military in 2003, and his father retired in 2016. Barker attended his father’s retirement ceremony, and listened as others spoke about his father’s achievements.  

“It shocked me because I had lived my life not knowing of his accomplishments, and I felt like the proudest kid ever. My dad became my hero. It was the best thing to know my dad was protecting the country while protecting me, too,” he said.  

While he is interested in following in his parents’ footsteps in military service, they have always stressed to him the importance of higher education. That drove him to apply for a Folds of Honor Scholarship. The additional benefit of an Otterbein Honoring Service Scholarship made his final choice clear. 

“I had applied for the Folds of Honor scholarship my senior year high school. I chose Otterbein because of the engineering program and because you can actually talk to your professors and that’s a big benefit. We also have a reimbursement on room and board to better support students. Once I found out about the Otterbein Honoring Service Scholarship, that was a big incentive to my choice,” Barker said. 

Learn more about Central Ohio Folds of Honor. 

Learn more about the Otterbein Honoring Service Scholarship.