Southern Illinois University-Carbondale student Colten Savage has traveled far in the last four years – from the military to college to the top prize in a national competition and a job waiting after earning his bachelor’s degree. A senior mortuary science and funeral service major from Blue River, Wisconsin, Savage recently won the Service Corporation International (SCI) Scholarship, claiming a $10,000 prize.

“It is such an honor for Colten to win the most prestigious mortuary science scholarship in the country,” said Anthony Fleege, program director and associate professor. “He has exemplified the qualities and traits found in excellent funeral directors since the day he started at SIU…”

A nontraditional student, Savage came to SIU after a four-year stint as a field radio operator in the Marine Corps. The son of an SIU alumnus, he was wrapping up his tour of duty in 2019 when he decided on a career shift, saying he chose his new profession for one simple reason: “I’m passionate about helping people and having an impact on families. Being there to assist them and help them pick up the pieces at a difficult time is an incredible feeling. My goal is to give them a positive last image of their loved one and a meaningful farewell…”

Savage also enhanced his experience with an internship at Meredith-Waddell Funeral Home in Energy, Illinois, and has a job waiting after graduation as a funeral director and embalmer apprentice at Howell, Edwards, Doerksen with Rigdon-Random Funeral Directors in Salem, Oregon.

Hundreds of students submitted entries for the SCI scholarship, which included essays, applications and videos. The best 25 were chosen as winners, with numbers 11-25 each claiming $2,500. The top-10 finalists then traveled to Houston, where they met with SCI company officials, toured the corporate offices and participated in three separate interview panels with company and industry representatives from across the country.

Savage, one of the youngest among the 10 scholarship finalists, went up against a longtime attorney, a federal court translator who spoke 17 languages and a fellow Marine veteran from the communications field who was stationed at the same base as Savage, among other remarkable candidates. The other nine finalists received $5,000. Savage also won the $1,000 Steve Mack Memorial Scholarship from SCI. sah.siu.edu/mortuary-science