Samantha “Sam” Franklin ’20 was awarded one of 10 postgraduate scholarships from the Southern Conference. Franklin was a midfielder and two-year captain of the Keydet women’s soccer team and earned several academic honors throughout her cadetship. Photo courtesy VMI Keydets.
The Southern Conference announced its 10 postgraduate scholarship recipients for the 2019-20 academic year April 16, 2020. Samantha “Sam” Franklin ’20 was one of two recipients of the Bob McCloskey Insurance Scholarship. Mercer’s Jack Raines was also awarded the Bob McCloskey Insurance Scholarship.
The recipients are nominated by their schools and selected by the Southern Conference Graduate Scholar Committee. The scholarships, worth $2,000 each, are awarded to student-athletes about to receive their undergraduate degrees who intend to pursue advanced degrees in graduate or professional school. The student-athletes are evaluated on academics, athletics and community service.
A midfielder for the Keydet women’s soccer team, Franklin started 70 of her 72 career games played, scoring nine points on four goals and an assist, with a career-high three goals as a junior in 2018. A two-year team captain, Franklin earned Southern Conference All-Tournament honors in 2019 and was the 2020 winner of the Three-Legged Stool award, which is presented to the VMI first class cadet-athlete who best exemplifies the three aspects of a VMI education: Athletics, academics and military discipline.
An Arabic and international studies double major and a member of the Phi Sigma Iota international languages honor society, Franklin earned VMI academic stars for earning a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 from spring 2017 to spring 2020. She also was a recipient of a Project GO Scholarship, which allowed her to study Arabic in Fez, Morocco, in the summer of 2019. Franklin was a three-time member of the SoCon Honor Roll, twice earning the Commissioner’s Medal for posting a GPA of at least 3.8 for the academic year. She earned Academic All-SoCon honors three times.
She served as the president of VMI’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee in 2019, organizing community service events for student-athletes and ensuring maximum support for sporting events at VMI. Franklin was also captain of the VMI Morale and Welfare Group and organized Salvation Army bell-ringing events for VMI SAAC student-athletes in 2018 and 2019. She also twice volunteered with Habitat for Humanity with the VMI women’s soccer team and helped organize a weekly event to read to children at an elementary school in Lexington, Virginia. Franklin, who will serve in the U.S. Air Force as an intelligence officer after graduating from VMI, plans to pursue a master’s degree in homeland security policy.
This article was first published on vmikeydets.com.
