Patrick Poorbaugh enlisted in the Marines during his senior year of high school and left for basic training soon after graduation. “We were in the middle of two wars, and I didn’t want to let others do the job,” he said. “And I knew I wasn’t ready for college.”
That was in 2005. This year Poorbaugh, a 28-year-old staff sergeant in the Marines, will earn a B.A. in political science from Columbia’s School of General Studies. On May 21, the day after Commencement, he will be commissioned as a second lieutenant at a ceremony in Low Library, part of the Marine Enlisted Commissioning Education Program, which allows active-duty enlisted Marines to go to a four year college participating in a Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps Program full time and become an officer.
Full Story: news.columbia.edu/Patrick-Poorbaugh-Class-of-2015#