Discussion: University Scholarship For Orienteering In USA

Hello to everyone! My name is Tarik I ll 18 in this month an im living in Turkey.I am on orienteering national team of Turkey I have some questions.I want to go USA for studying and doing orienteering with clubs.But i dont know which University cares about orienteering and giving scholarship.If you know something pls hit me up

If anyone comes up with an example, I will be extremely surprised.

There was one case I recall of a West Point cadet who was an orienteer from Finland. Long time ago now. One of the few (only?) US colleges that even has an O team. Not sure what type of logistics were required to put that together. Maybe she was an exchange student from Finland's military? [Jessica something I think]

@ fossil, you're probably thinking of Hanna Parikka, Class of '96. Also Petr Vohralik from the Czech Republic, I think Class of '98. Both orienteers were foreign cadets, fully-enrolled members of the Corps of Cadets that were nominated by their home countries. I think that process is at least as complicated and demanding as getting a nomination in the US, if not more so.

@tariksea, there are a few orienteers from Cascade Orienteering Club at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. But for the most part, juniors in the US tend to plan either to go to school in an area with an active club, or to go to the school they can afford while setting aside funds to travel for orienteering. Not only are there no scholarships for orienteering, but not much in the way of college clubs/teams outside of the U.S. Military Academy (West Point) as mentioned above.

orienteeringusa.org has an interactive map if you want to look at areas with active clubs. Lots of universities to choose from!

That all being said I'm convinced there is money to be made for a student very interested in orienteering, including mapping and course setting who is interested in going to a university, setting up a university club, hustling for the grants available, contacting the local JROTC,Scouts and public inviting them to events on maps he/she has made.
Would it pay your way? No. Would you be able to make a thousand dollars or two? Yes but the money won't fall into your lap. (Of course the money goes to your club and the club pays you for your expenses). You'd have to hustle for it. Also key is finding a way to get use of an SI timing system. That really helps make the events a one- or two-person show.
Also, in America you can't do much without the use of a car.

The case of Hanna Parikka was especially interesting because at the time she attended West Point, women couldn't even serve in the Finnish military. That was still the case after she graduated and returned to Finland.

That explains why she got off a helicopter in Bosnia in a very smart suit while most of the rest of us were in grungy fatigues... ;-)

She was a prime target for snipers' fire then...

A Finnish woman in West Point was such an event that Finnish TV even made this 1-hr documentary. It's an inspiring story starting from the application process. It's mostly in Finnish, of course...
https://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2010/05/04/west-poin...