TRUE NORTH HEROES SPOTLIGHT: An Interview with Michael Sanchez

by Leslie Parsons

For more than 60 years, the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation (MCSF) has been changing the lives of Marines and their families by providing need-based scholarships to military children interested in pursuing post-secondary education.

But how are lives being changed, exactly? To answer this question, we sat down with Michael Sanchez, who recently graduated from Cornell University, to talk about the impact that the MCSF has had on his education and his plans for the future.

Michael’s father was a Marine and, though he left the Corps before Michael was born, he took a great deal of pride in his military service. This had a profound impact on Michael’s upbringing. Growing up, he says that he was sensitive to the needs and struggles of veterans in his community and that his father always stressed the importance of focusing on how he could be of service to others.

When Michael graduated high school in 2015, he decided to enlist in the Marine Corps. While his father supported this decision, he did make Michael promise that he would attend college once his period of enlistment was over. He also advised Michael to find a position that would help him develop skills that would easily transfer to a civilian career. Michael followed his father’s advice and became an airplane electrician. 

Michael greatly enjoyed his time in the Marines, particularly the two years he spent in Japan. As a kid from a small town in Texas, he relished the opportunity to travel and experience a culture that was so different from his own. However, by the summer of 2020, he was ready for a change and, honoring the promise he’d made to his father, he applied and was accepted to Cornell University.

Cornell is well known for its commitment to supporting military veterans and, once enrolled, Michael became an integral part of that thriving community. It was through this network of veterans that he first learned about the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation. Obtaining a scholarship allowed him to focus on his academic career, rather than on finding money to pay his tuition while still keeping a roof over his head.

Although he started Cornell with the intention of pursuing a career in business and the law—even majoring in Industrial Labor Relations and interning with Lockheed Martin—Michael soon discovered a passion for psychology and neuroscience. With the encouragement of one of his professors, he got some hands-on experience working in a lab, which only served to deepen his interest in the subjects. By the time he graduated in December, 2023 he had decided to make psychology the focus of his career.

Michael is currently applying to graduate school and plans to specialize in resilience research. He wants to explore how those who suffer from PTSD, anxiety, and other mental health disorders—particularly veterans–can build resilience to overcome these challenges.

Thanks to the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, Michael Sanchez is well on his way to pursuing a career he loves and one that will allow him to give back to the veteran community. To learn more about MCSF and the other nonprofit organizations we work with, please visit the True North Foundation’s website and be sure to sign up for our newsletter.