PRINCETON, Maine — U.S. Army veteran Joseph Wheaton, a native of this small Washington County community, is one of 60 people across the country named a 2015 Tillman Scholar.
“Founded in 2008, the Tillman Scholars program supports our nation’s active-duty service members, veterans and military spouses by investing in their higher education,” a news release issued in June by the Pat Tillman Foundation stated.
Tillman was an all-star player in the National Football League when he put his career on hold to enlist in the U.S. Army in the wake of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Shortly after he died in 2004 in Afghanistan, his family and friends created the foundation.
The scholarship program covers the costs of pursuing undergraduate, graduate or post-graduate degrees as a full-time student at a U.S.-based, accredited institution.
“The selection process for the Tillman Scholars program is highly competitive with up to 60 Tillman Scholars chosen annually,” according to the news release, which announced the newly elected class would receive more than $1.7 million in scholarships.
Wheaton is enrolled in a master’s degree in secondary education at Arizona State University.
“Whether it is maintaining classroom discipline, developing a positive community spirit or fostering a positive attitude toward education, I’ve learned that success is rooted in the details,” he said in his profile on the Tillman Scholars website.
Wheaton entered the Army out of high school. In six years, he was deployed to Afghanistan four times and to Iraq twice, according to his father, Kenneth Wheaton, who still lives in Princeton.
Then, the younger Wheaton completed a law degree, his father said Friday.
“After completing a law degree, Joseph determined that the lack of access to quality education for young children was the greatest threat to our nation,” his profile on the Tillman website states.
“Believing that classrooms need leaders as teachers, Joseph embarked on a two-year Teach for America journey, where he realized that his experiences as a squad leader — including attention to detail, ability to overcome obstacles and ability to direct focus and motivation to the end goal — prepared him well for leading a classroom.”
Joseph Wheaton is working full time as a teacher while pursuing his master’s degree, according to his father.
Although his son earned a law degree, Kenneth Wheaton remembered his son saying later, “I’d rather teach before they get in trouble than put them in jail afterward.”
The younger Wheaton also hopes to be able to use the advanced degree he is working on in conjunction with his law degree to affect changes in education policy.
“I’m very proud of him,” Kenneth Wheaton said. “It’s quite an honor.”