Prince William County Schools: The National MeritĀ® Scholarship Corporation named Skye Auger, a senior at Osbourn Park High School, a 2024 National Merit Scholarship winner. Auger was selected from a talent pool of more than 15,000 outstanding finalists and is one of 2,500 students nationwide to win the National Merit $2,500 scholarship.
"Winning this scholarship is the culmination of all the effort Iāve put into my academic life, and Iām really glad my hard work has paid off in this way. To all the underclassmen who are apprehensive about their futures, Iād just like to say that a strong work ethic always comes back to reward you, so keep trying at every opportunity that comes your way because you might be surprised by what youāre capable of. I also attribute this success to the great educational opportunities Iāve had in this county with teachers who have truly pushed me and given me an environment that I can develop in," said Auger.
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Prince William Chamber of Commerce press release: Six local high school students were awarded scholarships at the annual Education and Workforce Breakfast, held on April 24th by The Prince William Chamber of Commerce.
The 2024 winners are graduating high school students who were selected by a panel of business leaders and were all awarded $2,500 scholarships, for use at their U.S. college or university of choice.
All of this yearās scholarship winners demonstrated exceptional dedication to academics and community involvement, meeting the criteria outlined by the scholarship committee.
The Prince William County students awarded scholarships at the breakfast are Camilia Giudici, Bryce Poole, Alexa McMillan, Helen Jacob, Sean Villacorte, Jacob Skufca.
This yearās program welcomed a panel discussion from the superintendents from Prince William County Schools, Dr. LaTanya McDade, City of Manassas Park County Schools, Dr. Melissa Saunders, and Executive Director of Student Achievement, Craig Gfeller. The panelists discussed local educational topics including how businesses can get involved and support schools in our community.
Education and Workforce Breakfast is a special event that focuses on education and workforce development in our community.
According to the scholarship website, the scholarship is an award of $200 allocated for each age-appropriate child in the household. Sarah Smith, recreation senior manager in the Prince William County Parks & Recreation Department, said a range of ages is typically awarded.
āItās a wide variety,ā Smith said. ā[Applicants] go from preschool age all the way [up to 18]. I would say our oldest applicant is around 15.ā
Ruth Anderson, chair of the Prince William Parks Foundation, said this scholarship was born out of the foundation’s revitalization efforts in late 2019 and early 2020.
āAnd what was happening at that time? Yeah, the pandemic,ā Anderson said. āWe set up all the infrastructure for the foundation, and then we made our very first program ā¦ because at that time, kids weren’t getting out to school and a perfect place for them was parks.ā
Anderson also said other park foundations had similar scholarships available, so this was an opportunity to meet a need and follow in the footsteps of peer organizations.
āThe scholarship program actually became successful very rapidly because people were very willing to give to that effort,ā Anderson said.
According to federal poverty guidelines, the scholarship was created for children at or below 130% of the poverty level. For a household of four people, the poverty guideline is an annual income of $31,200, which increases by $5,380 per additional person. Each qualifying child per household can receive a scholarship.
According to the foundation website, much of the money for the scholarships comes from cash and in-kind donations, grants, and other types of donations. Anderson said a large donor to the scholarship is The Hylton Foundation, a Dale City nonprofit.
According to documents provided by Anderson, the Hylton Foundation donated $10,000 in 2023 and $6,690 from the Parks Foundationās fundraising efforts. In total, $16,690 was awarded to students in the county for various programs.
Smith said that in the 2023 scholarship year, more than 125 programs had registrations from 139 award recipients. The most popular programs are camps, swim lessons, and arts and crafts programs.
The scholarship application is open until February 2 and can be submitted via mail or online. Specific application materials can be found on the scholarship website.
Caitlyn Meisner is a freelance reporter for Potomac Local News.
Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative and the Virginia, Maryland & Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives offer college, vocational, and trade school scholarships to public, private, and home-schooled high school seniors whose families receive electricity from electric cooperatives. Students may apply to both scholarship programs.
NOVEC and VMDAEC will send scholarship funds directly to recipients' chosen educational institutions for help with tuition, room and board, student fees, or book purchasing.
