LOCAL NEWS — The Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) recently established a new award honoring the service, bravery, and sacrifices of military veterans. The Chancellor’s Commendation for Military Veterans will honor a military veteran attending one of the state’s community and technical colleges. Recipients of the new Chancellor’s Commendation were nominated by the college presidents and include students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

That award winner from Motlow College will be Zachary Dwyer of Smyrna. Zachary is a freshman attending Motlow’s Smyrna campus. He is majoring in general studies and plans to transfer to MTSU to study Geoscience. He graduated from Lancaster Christian Academy in 2010 and joined the Navy in 2011, serving aboard the USS Fitzgerald and USS Bonhomme Richard during his eight years of service.

“Courage, commitment, and honor are the core values of the U.S. Navy, and Zachary Dwyer embodies these core values,” said Motloe President Dr. Michael Torrence. “In an unprecedented year, Zach’s core values are his anchor and compass as he begins a new journey as an adult learner in a time of uncertainty. He brings as much to the classroom as he receives, and he enjoys the learning experiences and environment of Motlow.”

College presidents presented recipients of the commendation a special Challenge Coin on behalf of the chancellor.  Challenge coins are a rich tradition in all military branches and signify special achievement, excellence, hard work, unit pride, respect, and esprit de corps.

During the 2019-2020 academic year, 3,436 students in the College System of Tennessee self-reported as veterans and active duty military personnel on their admission materials. Since such reporting is not required, there are likely more student veterans – and they are in addition to the many veterans in the faculty, staff, and alumni ranks. •

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