CU alumnus and donor and Air Force veteran, Doug Pikop, is paying it forward by helping current active-duty students achieve their educational goals through the HEROES scholarship.
“Because of my personal experience, I have a soft spot in my heart for enlisted military personnel who are working toward their college degree and possibly earning a commission as an officer,” Doug shared.
Doug graduated from CU Denver in 1979 with a psychology degree during his active-duty time in the Air Force, and was stationed at Buckley Space Force Base until 1980. He applied for officer training school and earned his commission upon his graduation.
Following this, Doug was sent to Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota for two and a half years.
“During this time, South Dakota State University had a program that offered an education degree with majors in guidance and counseling or school administration or similar, and with a BA in psychology, I pursued a master’s in guidance and counseling and finished that in May of 1983 after two years of night school,” Doug explained.
In 1983, Doug was assigned to Offutt Air Force Base, and two years later in 1985, became Air Force ROTC faculty at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
“You need a master’s degree to be a faculty member in the military ROTC program,” Doug said. “So it was a perfect fit. I worked at the University of Nebraska at Omaha for four years, 1985-89, and it was a very satisfying four years of my career.
Doug continued serving active duty until 1993, and rose to the rank of major before retiring and finding a career in insurance sales and financial advising at Thrivent Financial, and later transitioned to compliance and supervision for the last thirteen years of his career.
Alongside Doug’s journey of hard work and service is an enriching personal life. He recently celebrated 53 years of marriage to his wife, Paulette, with whom he has three sons. Doug still devotes time to military-affiliated efforts as board member of the local chapter of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA). One of his duties involves presenting medals and scholarships to five ROTC cadets at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Nebraska Omaha and Creighton University annually, helping students become future officers just like he did. Doug goes beyond his official MOAA duties with personal acts of kindness, often bringing friend and Air Force officer widow, Leslie, with him to MOAA events so she can continue to enjoy the informational sessions and social aspect.
Additionally, Doug has taken up some acting in his retirement and can even be seen in a few local Nebraska commercials as talent for the agency Sasha Models – putting the “model” in “role model.”
Knowing firsthand what earning a degree while in the military full time is like, Doug is happy to contribute to current active duty members pursuing college.
“I’m just a rather ordinary person who is comfortable in retirement and makes modest donations throughout the year,” Doug said of his decision to support HEROES recipients. “As a Thrivent Financial retiree, I can get a matching donation up to a certain amount, so that motivates me too. I didn’t take classes at UCCS, but I was a prior service member and I used tuition assistance and the G.I. bill to pay my way, so when I saw the HEROES mailing I went for it.”
Doug encouraged students to continue persevering, while he continues to support through scholarship gifts.
“Never give up,” he said. “Keep working, and working toward your objective, in spite of the obstacles that you might encounter.”