{"id":9103,"date":"2017-05-03T10:21:23","date_gmt":"2017-05-03T14:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/textiles.ncsu.edu\/news\/?p=9103"},"modified":"2024-04-18T10:58:06","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T14:58:06","slug":"mathews-medal-winner-advocates-for-veterans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/textiles.ncsu.edu\/news\/2017\/05\/mathews-medal-winner-advocates-for-veterans\/","title":{"rendered":"Mathews Medal Winner Demonstrates Resolve, Commitment to His Education, Military Students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
As a Textile Engineering<\/a> major, military veteran and father to three young children, Justin Rigdon, 27, knows what it means to persevere and adapt. His road to commencement hasn\u2019t been straight nor has it been easy. But the winner of an Alumni Association Mathews Medal<\/a>, the highest non-academic distinction that a graduating senior can receive, wouldn\u2019t have it any other way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Coming from a military family, Rigdon looked to enlist following high school graduation. \u201cI was very smart, but I was also very lazy. I didn\u2019t have the discipline for college then,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But what he did have then and still has today was the desire to challenge himself. \u201cI chose the Marines out of pride. I asked myself \u2018What\u2019s the most difficult path I could take?\u2019 It was the Marines,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n