Scholarship to honor local soldier

Two former schoolmates of a Hocking College alum who was killed in Afghanistan late last year have launched a scholarship fund to help keep his memory alive.
Army Staff Sgt. Curtis A. Oakes, who was killed in December, was "kind of a hard person to not meet," recalled his friend Amber Brookins, who attended Hocking with him in the Fish and Wildlife Management program before Oakes graduated in 2002.

In addition to being a very big guy, whose nickname was "Oak Tree," Brookins explained, Oakes had "an awesome personality, a big smile on his face."

Brookins and another friend of Oakes, Jason Hadsell, recently filed papers to create a non-profit corporation, the Staff Sgt. Curtis Oakes Memorial Scholarship Fund.

The organization's stated goal is "to award a (Hocking College) natural resources student with a yearly scholarship, in honor of a former student, fallen soldier and friend."

Brookins, Oakes and fellow Hocking alum Jason Hadsell all became friends while attending the college, and taking part in the Hocking Fish and Wildlife Club.

Hadsell moved on to use his Hocking College training as a wildlife officer for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, for whom he works in Ashtabula County. Brookins works for the Ohio University Credit Union in Athens.

Oakes, however, chose a military career, joining up in 2003. He belonged to the 1st Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, which was based at Fort Campbell, Ky.

Oakes served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and the latter is where he was killed with other soldiers in December 2010. An Afghan police officer in training began shooting at them as they went to take shooting practice near the Pakistani border. The assailant was shot dead, according to news reports.

Hadsell said he and Brookins came up with the scholarship fund as "one of the best ways to really remember Curtis."

When he first heard of Oakes' death, he said, "the day afterward, I called (Brookins) up and said, 'We need to do something.'"

The plan is to provide a $500 annual scholarship to a second-year Hocking student majoring in natural resources, who shows some of the traits that Brookins, Hadsell and others remember about Oakes -- someone outgoing, positive, and excited about the great outdoors.

Brookins said the new fund has already gotten a couple of private donations, and may work with Hocking College on a campus memorial to Oakes, "to honor our friend."