Two decades of honorably serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, including two deployments, taught retired Staff Sergeant Jon White ’26 how to start from scratch and work hard to achieve a goal.
“I dropped out of high school when my youngest — James — was just six months old,” Jon says. “I was working at McDonald’s, and I tried to sell a (USMC) recruiter an apple pie. He bought the pie, but he sold me on the Marine Corps. I took it because I knew it was going to be a better opportunity for my family and me.”
Marietta has a long history of attracting students like Jon and empowering them to build their futures. In any given academic year, standout students like Jon, Ashley Manion ’24, Yutaro Ito ’25, Mahlet Getahun ’27 and Kyla Morris ’24 embody the best of what Marietta College has to offer and make their special mark on The Long Blue Line. Their drive, experiences and achievements represent the hallmark of a liberal arts education. Their desire to learn has no finish line.
In the Marines, Jon climbed the ranks, ultimately working on Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter avionics. When he retired, he wanted to pursue a new goal — law school — but needed to find the right undergraduate school to help him prepare. The father of six children ranging in age from four to 23 found Marietta College’s Philosophy program to be a good fit, plus it’s only about 45 minutes from his home in Davisville, West Virginia.
“As far as being a student at my age and being on campus — as a Staff Sergeant, I always got new, young Marines, so I’m used to being around 18- and 19-year-olds,” Jon says. “I come here, grab my education and participate in things where I can contribute. I personally don’t care about being seen as a freshman or sophomore because you have to start somewhere. If you expect to walk straight to the top without doing the work at the bottom, you’re not going to make it anywhere.”
Though Marietta didn’t have much of a support system for veterans in place when he arrived, Jon and two other student veterans worked with fellow veteran Jason Nulton, Community Engagement Coordinator in the McDonough Center for Leadership and Business, to build one. With the support of The Marietta Fund, the College added a new Veterans Center, so veterans and family members of veterans have a designated study and lounge space in McDonough. Last year, Jon and two fellow veterans established a Student Veterans of America chapter.
While his academic work is challenging, Jon knows that gauging his success goes far beyond his grades.
“I want to go to law school, so that’s one motivator,” Jon says. “But more important to me is that I want my kids to see that their dad didn’t just stop after the military. He kept going, and if he can do it, they can too. I want to inspire that in them. Don’t stop. Don’t quit.”
One of the first conversations Ashley had with a Marietta College Theatre professor happened during a campus tour when she was still in high school.
“He asked me, ‘What do you want to do if you get involved in Theatre specifically?’ and I said, ‘Well, I’m thinking about writing a musical. Is that crazy?’ ” Ashley says. “He told me, ‘Well, it’s never been done before, but we’ll figure it out.’ That was it for me. I was coming to Marietta College.”
In December, Ashley’s musical, Stratum, will debut in Marietta’s Friederich Theater. It is the first musical ever written and produced by a current student.
Ashley says Theatre faculty have been supportive during every stage of the creative process. From the time she began conceptualizing her musical, which focuses on the children of superheroes and the family/friends dynamic, she has sought out opportunities to learn about the creative process.
“My scriptwriting class really helped me because Jason (Halbleib) showed me how musicals worked, in terms of play formatting, the purposes of song and different ways you can present a musical,” Ashley says.
She also worked on an Investigative Studies project with Professor Andy Felt and finished a Poets and Playwrights Fellowship this summer, which gave her one-on-one time with the work and experience with deadlines.
“The unique thing about the College is that I just don’t think I would be doing what I’m doing anywhere else,” Ashley says. “I’ve gotten so much focus from the professors and my peers, who are always willing to help me out if I need something performed or read through so it’s not just in my head.”
She’s grateful for the support of her parents, who encouraged her to follow her passion in College rather than a guaranteed paycheck.
“My parents are my biggest fans and I haven’t told them what Stratum’s about because I want them to have a fresh audience reaction when they see it,” Ashley says. “I think only 5% of the composers on Broadway are women and 13% of the playwrights, but I’m determined enough to do the work to make it into that percentile and make that percentile bigger for the next generation. I have to thank my parents — my dad’s a union carpenter and my mom’s a stay-at-home mom and I’m a first-generation college student — they encouraged me to go after something that would bring me satisfaction in life.”
Every night, Yutaro closes down Legacy Library.
“It’s the same thing about every night,” Yutaro says. “I finish studying in the library, and then I walk outside and I look up at the stars and I feel a sense of accomplishment.”
Though most of his nighttime is dedicated to studying, the Political Science major also is involved in a number of other activities on campus that support current students and helps recruit new ones. He’s the Academic Affairs Chair for Delta Tau Delta fraternity, the International President of Global Connections, a Student Ambassador for the Admission Office, a Resident Assistant in McCoy Hall, a tutor, Secretary of the Omicron Delta Kappa Leadership Honorary, a member of Model UN and a Ronald Reagan Institute Fellow. During Matriculation in August, he was invited to speak to the incoming students.
“The purpose, the main core idea of what I wanted to deliver to the freshmen was, it’s all new,” Yutaro says. “If you have passion, this is a great place. There’s a lot of great opportunities and great people who can provide you an opportunity to follow your passion and thrive and achieve a lot of great things. There are a lot of great people here who can pull out things from you if you are willing to say ‘Yes’ to those opportunities. That’s how I thrive in college, from my experiences.”
He invited the new students to approach him on campus or sit with him at lunch — and many of them have.
“During rush, I had some freshmen come up and say, ‘Hi Yutaro. I really liked your speech.’ They remembered me because I decided to take the opportunity to do that speech,” he says.
Yutaro hopes to work in Foreign Service after graduation, a goal that was fostered after taking a World Politics class with Dr. Michael Morgan ’10, his advisor. He took an International Relations course at Boston University the summer after Morgan’s class, which helped reinforce his career aspirations.
“A lot of factors will help me achieve my goals,” says Yutaro, who is an international student from Japan. “I chose to study in the United States to improve my English skills. I have met so many people from different backgrounds and I have made connections in different areas. I am getting a lot out of my education at Marietta College because I take opportunities that are given to me — to everyone here.”
There was no way that Mahlet would be a student at Marietta without the tremendous support of the Rickey Scholarship — and she wouldn’t be the 2023 Rickey Scholar without pouring her heart into her education.
“When I got the email saying that I got it, I couldn’t do anything but cry because I was so happy,” Mahlet says. “I told my parents and it was very emotional. They are very proud.”
Her brother had recently graduated from Grinnell College and was living in the Midwest, but the idea of sending their youngest daughter to the United States from their home in Ethiopia was a difficult decision.
“I talk to my parents every day, at least once a day but usually more,” Mahlet says. “They miss me being at home, but they know I’m in a good place.”
Mahlet’s high school years happened during COVID-19, so she had to challenge herself academically to prepare to pursue majors in Physics and Computer Science.
“It would have been easy to sit back and do nothing during that time because of COVID, but I wanted more in my education. I wanted to learn and keep learning,” Mahlet says.
Adjusting to life in the U.S. has been effortless.
“I’m involved in Global Connections and Women in STEM,” Mahlet says. “I even tried rowing for the first time. That was an incredible experience. My classes are very hard so I couldn’t stay on the team but maybe in the future, I’ll try it again. That’s something I never dreamed of doing. I say that a lot here. I love Marietta College and I am so thankful to be here.”
Kyla hopes her education leads her more than 4,000 miles away from campus, back to the North Slope of Alaska.
Over the summer, the Environmental Science major interned with the International Tundra Experiment (ITEX) to study the impact of climate change on the greenness of native plants. Dr. Jeremy May, an Assistant Professor in the Biology and Environmental Science Department, connected her with ITEX, which he has worked with since he was an undergraduate student.
“We have long-term data that looks at the changes over time, so it’s easier to predict the ramifications of climate change on plant life overall because the tundra is the fastest-changing biome on Earth,” Kyla says.
She was a part of an encampment designed for researchers, graduate students and undergraduate students to study what is turning out to be “the canary in the coal mine” regarding the damage caused by climate change. The Toolik Field Station is a 10-hour drive from Fairbanks to the Arctic Circle. Her research typically took place within walking distance from her trailer dorm.
“I learned a lot about why climate change research is so important, and I also learned a lot about myself in the process,” Kyla says. “I learned that I have the ability to go do what I want to do, and it really brought back my love for learning — not that it was gone completely, but I really felt it coming back to life. It is driving me to graduate and to find a job that I love.”
Also a first-generation college student, Kyla says her parents were initially worried about spending the summer in such a far and wild location.
“After thinking about it, they said, ‘No one we know has ever done something like this. We’ll support you. You go have fun and learn and experience this.’ It was exactly what I needed to hear.”
She could return to Alaska for future research if funding is available through ITEX.
“I’m not really sure what area I want to focus on, so I’m taking a gap year to figure that out,” Kyla says. “I will say that my internship changed my life. It changed my way of thinking about my education and how I see myself using what I’ve learned to be a part of the solution.”
Nearly halfway through this academic year, Jon, Ashley, Yutaro, Mahlet and Kyla — and many more students just like them — are pushing through their finals and already eying what’s next. Confident and ready, they’re exactly what makes Marietta a Pioneer College.