Generational Commitment

by

Generational Commitment

Brenda and Glenn Dresner ’69 provide support to help Aggie student veterans succeed.

By Dorian Martin ’06

Photo of Brenda and Glenn Dresner with two studentsGrowing up in Washington County, Texas, Collin Schroeder ’15 ’17 was surrounded by the spirit of Texas A&M University. He enjoyed a prime view of Kyle Field from his grandparents’ hilltop home near Independence and regularly took notice of the university-owned agricultural fields that lined the area’s rural roads. 

While these indicators would suggest that Schroeder’s college choice was fated, his path to earning an Aggie ring took a multi-year detour. Committed to serving the nation, he joined the Army, where he maintained the fuel supply for military helicopters. Because of this critical role, Schroeder was deployed to Afghanistan in 2010 and Kuwait in 2013.

As a result of his service, Schroeder could tap the GI Bill, which defrayed the cost of his education at Texas A&M. What the nontraditional college student didn’t know was that because he was a military veteran, he also qualified for the Brenda and Glenn Dresner ’69 Aggie Veteran Scholarship in Honor of August and Martha Dresner. Created by the Dresners through the Texas A&M Foundation, this scholarship provides financial support to student veterans through Texas A&M’s Don & Ellie Knauss Veterans Resource and Support Center.

Because he had a family to support, Schroeder appreciated the extra financial assistance. The funds helped him complete a bachelor’s degree in agribusiness, which set the stage to earn a master’s degree in accounting. Now an accountant at Navasota’s Brewer, Eyeington, Patout & Co. LLP, Schroeder is firmly on the road to success, having recently passed his certified public accounting exam.

Honoring Military Veterans

Creating a scholarship to support military veterans like Schroeder was an easy decision for Glenn and Brenda Dresner. With familial ties to the military, both have a deep appreciation for those who serve. “We feel so proud that we have been able to help the veterans to strive to make a better life for themselves and their families,” Glenn said.  

Brenda’s family has two generations of veterans. In addition to her grandfather’s service in World War I, she had four family members—her father and three uncles—who enlisted in World War II. “I grew up looking at photos of all of these relatives,” she said. “I was so impressed with what they did.”

She often thinks of her father, Eugene Myska, who was a typist on the USS Windham Bay, an escort carrier ship. “I look at documents on Ancestry.com and wonder, ‘Did Daddy type this?’” Brenda said, adding that she also has compiled and treasures the daily letters that her father religiously wrote to his parents, asking about life on the family farm.

Glenn’s father, August, also served in World War II. Like many of his generation, August didn’t want to talk about his wartime experiences loading bombs onto Allied planes in England but did describe his return to the United States at the end of the war. “When he came home on the Queen Mary, the ship passed the Statue of Liberty and the ship’s speakers played a recording of Kate Smith singing ‘God Bless America,’” said Glenn, who retired from Texas Genco in 2005.

“Every time I hear that song, I think about my father and his return home. It seemed only fitting to honor my father and mother with a scholarship that recognized his service to this country.”

Family Commitment to Education

Additionally, both families value a college education. Glenn was among the first generation in his family to attend college; his father had an eighth-grade education while his mother finished her junior year in high school. “My parents wanted to make a better life for their three sons, so they worked hard to provide the opportunity for us to attend college,” he said. “To this day, I do not know how they did it, but they gave us the chance to go to college and accomplish this feat without accruing any educational debt.”

Brenda’s parents were similarly committed and faced the additional challenge of putting all three of their children through college at the same time. “Mother and Daddy had worked hard and planned for a way to provide each of their three children with a college education,” Brenda said, adding that her father invested in local real estate while her mother, who worked at the bank, oversaw the family’s accounts. “There was no discussion—all three of us were going to college. And we all got out debt free.”

The Dresners had the same expectations for their children and carefully crafted a financial strategy so that their two children could earn a college degree without taking on crippling debt. “So many children of our friends have debt for years going forward,” Glenn said. “Our children know that the debt-free education that Brenda and I gave them is important.”

Offering Financial Blessings

Because they are committed to helping others attain an education with minimal or no debt, the Dresners have created six scholarships spread between Texas A&M and Texas A&M at Galveston (TAMU-G). Thus far, 35 Aggies from both campuses have received these scholarships. 

The couple have been completely in sync in creating these scholarships. “Although Brenda did not graduate from Texas A&M—she attended Sam Houston University--it is quite obvious that she is just as much an Aggie as I am,” Glenn said. “Brenda has been 100% supportive and in complete agreement with all our commitments to creating as well as adding to the funding to each of the six scholarships we have endowed.”

In addition to the Aggie Veteran Scholarship, the Dresners have used several of these scholarships to honor different family members. For example, the couple created an endowed scholarship at TAMU-G in recognition of Brenda’s parents, Eugene and Dorothy Myska. Another TAMU-G scholarship salutes their son, Dustin ’01, who earned a degree in marine transportation and is now a licensed captain in the Merchant Marines. A Texas A&M Aggie Dance Team Scholarship is named for the couple’s daughter, Lindsey ‘06, who performed with the group. “These last two scholarships had an extra special meaning because we surprised Dustin and Lindsey with them as a Christmas present in 2016,” Glenn noted.

The Dresners also enjoy providing moral support to scholarship recipients. They encourage recipients to focus their attention on the tangible parts of their education—earning the Aggie ring and a degree. They are committed to fostering these relationships beyond graduation and consider these students a part of their extended family. Some of these relationships have grown to become incredibly strong. One of their previous scholarship recipients asked Glenn and Brenda to officiate at his wedding.

Saluting a New Chapter

The Dresners are proud that their extended family now includes military veterans who are starting a new chapter of life at Texas A&M. “This transition isn’t always easy,” Glenn said, “and many of these nontraditional students struggle. That’s why we believe our gifts are so beneficial, and we encourage others to consider giving, as well.”

The couple is now cheering on the latest Aggie Veterans Scholarship recipient, Kazuoki Tokuno ’22. Like the Dresners, the Aggie veteran credits his parents, who own a restaurant, with working hard to give their children a better life. Tokuno has followed in their footsteps, starting with enlisting in the Marine Corps, where he served as an air traffic controller. “I developed a frugal lifestyle, making most of my meals and adopting low-cost habits,” the computer engineering major said. “I maintained this way of life throughout my military career and even more so when I finished my service.”

Tokuno decided to apply to Texas A&M because of its support for veterans and top-tier engineering program—and he now is especially thankful for the Dresners’ support. “Receiving a scholarship from the Dresners gave me a sense of freedom to invest more in myself through building my own computer and buying a new monitor that replaces my 8-year-old laptop. I can use this new computer well into my professional career,” he said. “While I’m still conservative on how I spend my money, I’m grateful to the Dresners for letting me experience a more unrestrained outlook on life.”

Learn how you can support scholarships for student veterans at Texas A&M University.

You may also contact David Fujimoto '17, director of development for veteran affairs, at [email protected], or call 979-458-1689.

Give online now at Give.am/SupportVRSC.

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