NEWPORT NEWS, Va., Oct. 22, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE: HII) was honored Saturday by the Seabee Memorial Scholarship Association (SMSA) during the 2019 Building America’s Future Gala held in Arlington. SMSA presented the “Can Do Award” to HII for embodying the Seabee “Can Do” spirit through the company’s investment and support of the organization.

“When presented with a moment of choice, we need to stand up and choose to do something of importance that will have everlasting value,” said Michael Lempke, president of HII’s Technical Solutions’ Nuclear & Environmental group, who accepted the award on behalf of the company. “Sponsoring our country’s next generation is undoubtedly something good for our youth and the future of HII.”

In 2018, HII made a four year commitment to expand SMSA’s existing Robert Stethem Memorial Scholarship, which will provide financial support to eight additional students. SMSA is the nation’s only provider of need-based scholarships to the children and grandchildren of America’s fighting Seabees and Civil Engineer Corps (CEC) officers attending accredited colleges and universities.  

The scholarship and USS Stethem (DDG 63), built by Ingalls Shipbuilding, are named after Steelworker Second Class Robert Dean Stethem, the U.S. Navy Seabee diver killed in Beirut during the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 in 1985.