MONDAY, MARCH 14, 2011
Volume 10 Issue 104
Santa Monica Daily Press
SAVING THE WORLD WITH TREES SEE PAGE 5
We have you covered
THE YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS ISSUE
Female GIs struggle with higher rate of divorce
Students honing their competitive edge in ROP BY ASHLEY ARCHIBALD
BY KIMBERLY HEFLING
Daily Press Staff Writer
Associated Press
SAMOHI On March 18, a bevy of food trucks
WASHINGTON Two failed marriages were the cost of war for Sgt. Jennifer Schobey. The breaking point in her first marriage came when her husband deployed to Afghanistan, the last in a long line of separations they had endured as they juggled two military careers. Schobey married another combat veteran, but eventually that union failed under the weight of two cases of posttraumatic stress disorder — his and hers. They are now getting divorced. Separations. Injuries. Mental health issues. All are added weights to the normal strains of marriage. For women in the military, there’s a cold, hard reality: Their marriages are more than twice as likely to end in divorce as those of their male comrades — and up to three times as likely for enlisted women. And military women get divorced at higher rates than their peers outside the military, while military men divorce at lower rates than their civilian peers. About 220,000 women have served in Afghanistan and Iraq in roles ranging from helicopter pilots to police officers. Last year, 7.8 percent of women in the military got a divorce, compared with 3 percent of military men, according to Pentagon statistics. Among the military’s enlisted corps, nearly 9 percent of women saw their marriages end, compared with a little more than 3 percent of the men. Like all divorces, the results can be a sense of loss and a financial blow. But for military women, a divorce can be a breaking point — even putting them at greater risk for homelessness down the road. It has an effect, too, on military kids. The military has more single moms than dads, and an estimated 30,000 of them have
ON THEIR WAY: Samohi students Aidan Nathanson (left) and Sean Robins hold the $1,000
will descend on Santa Monica streets near the Samohi campus for a lunch period of eclectic eats. While that spells fun for most, Aidan Nathanson and his business partner Sean Robins view it as research. The two seniors plan on operating a food truck themselves under the name of Grub Tough, a rolling kitchen specializing in a meatladen Uruguayan sandwich called a chivito. “It’s a top sirloin sandwich with bacon, egg and ham,” Nathanson said. “It’s a meaty sandwich, and it’s delicious.” The research Nathanson and Robins will do at the truck luncheon will translate in a pitch to investors to raise the $50,000 in start up money needed to get the project underway. If the artery-clogging goodness of the chivito wasn’t enough to convince prospective investors of the potential benefits of jumping onto the food truck bandwagon, perhaps the fact that the business has been vetted by some of the best minds in the country might sway them. The concept of Grub Tough evolved through the Virtual Business arm of a class at Samohi called Regional Occupational Program, commonly known as ROP. Under the name of “Stacked,” the plan won the top prize in the New On-Campus Business category at the seventh annual High School Business Plan competition held in February and hosted by the UCLA Anderson School of Management, garnering a $1,000 check. It wasn’t alone in its success. Vike’s Enterprise, a collaborative effort of the ROP ECHO and Virtual Business classes, walked away with second prize and $500 for Existing On-Campus Business, and the floral arrangement business Seflora got a $250 award for third place in Existing On-
SEE DIVORCE PAGE 8
check they received for winning first place in the seventh annual High School Business Plan competition held in February and hosted by the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
SEE ROP PAGE 7
Brandon Wise brandonw@smdp.com
Gary Limjap (310) 586-0339 In today’s real estate climate ...
Experience counts! garylimjap@gmail.com www.garylimjap.com
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