John Boerstler, manager of the nonprofit Wounded Warrior Project, will speak at Girls Preparatory School on Thursday.
Following a daylong visit with GPS students, the veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps will share his personal story with the public and tell about his work with WWP at 7 p.m. in the school's Caldwell Commons.
Boerstler enlisted in the Marine Corps as an infantryman in 1999, eventually earning the rank of Sergeant. His overseas assignments took him to Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, Jordan, Djibouti and Kenya. As a noncommissioned officer, he served a combat tour in Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2004-2005. He received an honorable discharge from the Marine Corps in 2007.
He was president and founder of Lone Star Veterans Association in Houston, Texas. Lone Star provided employment assistance and peer-mentoring services to at-risk veterans. He has also served as Deputy Director for the city of Houston. In 2010, Boerstler was named one of 44 emerging leaders in the U.S. and awarded the Marshall Memorial Fellowship.
The Wounded Warrior Project serves military personnel who incurred service-connected injuries on or after Sept, 11, 2001.
GPS students raised several hundred dollars last year to help fund the newest Fisher House in Murfreesboro, Tenn. The Fisher House is a Wounded Warrior Project at the national level.
For more information, call 634-3475 or email anexum@gps.edu.