Angelica D. Light is president of The
Norfolk Foundation, a 53-year-old
community foundation that is Hampton
Roads' largest grantmaker and
scholarship provider.
Norfolk Foundation invests in VWC students
A quick scan of The Norfolk Foundation's history reveals that the foundation has enjoyed a long relationship with Virginia Wesleyan College. It started in 1965 - 18 months before the college opened - when the foundation awarded a $15,000 grant to help develop a new campus.
Through the decades the foundation has awarded nearly $400,000 in grants that have helped expand the college's fine arts center, build a humanities center and renovate science laboratories. The largest grant came in 1999 when we awarded $250,000 as part of Virginia Wesleyan's capital campaign. Funding for these grants came from the foundation's generous donors who since 1950 have entrusted us to use their funds to improve the quality of life in southeastern Virginia.
I am proud that The Norfolk Foundation has provided for the bricks and mortar of this now well-established campus. However, I believe the foundation's most significant investment at Virginia Wesleyan has been in its students. Nearly $400,000 in scholarships has helped more than 20 alumni pay for college. Several became the first in their families to earn a college diploma. They, in turn, are improving life in our region through their careers as teachers, camp directors, grant writers, mental health counselors, bankers, ministers and other professionals.
Donors like Bertha and Joseph Harry of Norfolk and Gloucester County native Ellis W. Rowe never met the students touched by their philanthropy. But using their wills to establish scholarship funds for Virginia Wesleyan students has enabled them to make a difference in students' lives.
Tracy Hilker of Virginia Beach is a math teacher who echoes the sentiments of many former scholarship recipients when she writes: "I can honestly say that I would not have been able to complete my degree without the help of this scholarship." Hilker was a single mother of two children when she was selected for a scholarship. Last year she was named to Who's Who of American Teachers and had 100 percent of her students pass their Standards of Learning tests.
Barry Davis of Hampton is another scholarship recipient fulfilling his youthful dreams of teaching social studies. As the first person in his family to complete college, Davis isn't stopping there. He plans to enroll in a master's of education program to further his knowledge of his profession.
Former scholarship recipient April Green of Virginia Beach is the mental health coordinator for the Norfolk City Jail. In her work she gives hope to inmates whose lives have been ravaged by addictions and mental illness. Green's experience has led her to take science courses in preparation for applying to medical school next year.
Jennifer Saunders of Virginia Beach is a fifth grade teacher who founded the Pride for Reading after-school club. Her own pride comes from "making a difference in someone's life every day."
Connie Tuck Pritchard of Virginia Beach and Jean-Marie Eagler of Chesapeake were both adult students when they enrolled at Virginia Wesleyan. Norfolk Foundation scholarships eased their burden of raising children while covering their own educational expenses. Today Pritchard teaches third grade, and Eagler owns GrantsConnect, which writes grants for nonprofit organizations.
For Marc Murray of Jamesville, his scholarship allowed him to graduate with little debt so he could "develop myself as opposed to using my education as a means to a financial end." Today he combines his love of the outdoors with his interest in youth development as program director at the YMCA's Camp Silver Beach on Virginia's Eastern Shore.
As these Virginia Wesleyan alumni daily impact countless lives, the numbers of those touched by Norfolk Foundation scholarships continues to grow. This year foundation scholarships are helping nine Virginia Wesleyan students realize their dreams of higher education. Soon they, too, will be professionals finding their own ways to improve life in their communities.