Kansas State University

MANHATTAN — A Marine. A wounded warrior. An award-winning university student. It's no wonder Michael Feingold's story is one that a magazine for military transitioners wants to tell.

Feingold, Lenexa, a graduate of Kansas State University's online food science bachelor's degree completion program and a current online food science master's student at the university, was recently featured on the cover of G.I. Jobs magazine.

Feingold was a senior in high school when he enlisted in the Marine Corps, just a month before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. After several years and a variety of jobs with the Marines, he began taking Kansas State University classes online.

While completing his degree, Feingold overcame several personal obstacles. In winter 2011, he was selected for another mission with the Marines in Bahrain, where he severely injured his shoulder and reinjured his back, both of which required surgery.

"Just getting through those hurdles was quite a challenge," Feingold said. "I was trying to balance school, balance my life and balance physical training to get healthy again. I've always been the type of person to just follow my dream. I've never been the type of person to give up on anything."

Shortly after graduation from the university in 2013, he was selected as the University Professional and Continuing Education Association's Central Region Outstanding Continuing Education Student, going on to receive the association's national award. Feingold was able to share his Kansas State University success story with thousands of other military members and distance students through his feature story in G.I. Jobs magazine this spring.

Feingold continues to serve in the Marine Corps, is a food technologist/food scientist and lab manager at Cereal Ingredients Inc. and has recently started a family. With his busy schedule, he said he appreciates the accommodating and personable way in which his professors at K-State have structured his distance education classes.

"My life is moving a hundred miles an hour, and as long as I communicate that to my professors, they are really amenable to helping me work around my schedule," Feingold said. "One thing I love about K-State's distance classes is that the lectures I'm watching are actual lectures that the professor has given to a class on campus. You're not getting second-hand knowledge, you're getting it straight from the professor's mouth, which I absolutely love."

Kansas State University offers support services for both distance education military students as well as those taking classes on campus, including an on-campus veteran affairs office and a designated counselor at the university's student financial assistance office who specializes in finding scholarship and financial aid opportunities for military students and their family members. A merit-based scholarship program for college-bound children and spouses of Fort Riley military personnel is also in place as well as housing for ROTC and other military students at the Saunders Barracks in the university's Jardine Apartments Complex.

Military students like Feingold have the option to earn their degree online or take evening classes on the university's Manhattan campus as well as at Fort Riley and Fort Leavenworth. The university's office at Fort Riley provides academic counseling, course delivery and other information for prospective and current military students.

Kansas State University received designation as a top military inclusive school for 2014 by both Military Advanced Education and Victory Media Inc., the publisher of G.I. Jobs magazine. This recognition names the university in the top 15 percent of all colleges, universities and trade schools nationwide for military students based on a survey of more than 12,000 schools conducted by Victory Media Inc. Kansas State University is listed in its 2014 Guide to Military Friendly Schools.

Learn more about the university's dedication to serving members of the military and their families at http://www.global.k-state.edu/military.