Immediate Release
Contact: Jessica Parr
757-676-6556 (C)
JParr@Comelec.coop
Windsor, VA – Three high school seniors from the service territory of Community Electric Cooperative each have each received $1,000 college scholarships awarded by the Education Scholarship Foundation of the Virginia, Maryland & Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives (VMDAEC).
The 2024 scholarship recipients are:
- Jada Brittle, a student at Windsor High School
- Keaera Kea-Towns, a student at Windsor High School
- Reese Upton, a student at Isle of Wight Academy
The students were eligible for consideration because their parents or guardians are members of Community Electric Cooperative.
“Scholarships that can be used for higher education or trade school build our communities and our society,” said Brian S. Mosier, president and chief executive officer of the VMDAEC. The Foundation has awarded scholarships annually since its formation in 2001. Including this year’s record amount of awards -- $80,000 – the Foundation has provided more than $1 million in scholarships over the past two decades.
Brittle plans to attend Tidewater Community College for two years and earn a pre-engineering degree before transferring to a construction engineering school.
“I’ve always wanted to get into architecture and construction,” she said. “I am taking all four years of building trades courses. We go out on job sites and do hands-on projects for the community. I’ve rewired a woman’s pump house, and we’ve built sheds for elementary schools. It’s an awesome program, and I fell in love with building things and figuring out how things work.”
Ultimately, Brittle wants to start her own firm. “I was surprised and very thankful to receive this to help pay for my college education,” she said.
Kea-Towns will major in mechanical engineering at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, N.C. Her career aspiration is to work at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
“I got to work a lot with STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and math) when I was younger. Building stuff has always been just so interesting to me, designing my own things and the process of going through it,” Kea-Towns said. “I’m really excited about receiving this scholarship, especially with it being my first one.”
Upton will attend Salem College in Winston-Salem, N.C., where she will major in exercise science and minor in coaching. Her career goal is to be an athletic trainer or physical therapist.
“Sports have always been very influential for me. Therefore, I would like to obtain a career that works with athletes,” she said. “I was very excited when I received the notification that I was selected for this scholarship award. It will serve as a tremendous financial help next year.”
Brittle, Kea-Towns and Upton are among 65 students who each are receiving $1,000 awards in honor of Worth Hudson, the first chairman of the VMDAEC Education Scholarship Foundation Board and former chairman of the board of directors of Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative in Chase City, Va.
“Our electric cooperatives are proud to support these worthy students,” said the current chairman of the Foundation Board, Russell G. “Rusty” Brown. “The Seventh Cooperative Principle is Concern for Community, and electric cooperatives are organized to adhere to these principles, owned by those they serve.”
Community Electric’s president and CEO, Steven A. Harmon, said the Education Scholarship initiative is a fitting extension of the Fifth Principle of electric cooperatives – Education, Training and Information.
“It is tremendously gratifying to know that the electric cooperative family is helping to make it possible for families whom we serve to advance the educations of their sons and daughters,” Harmon said. “I know the parents of this year’s scholarships are rightfully proud of the hard work their daughters have put forth and of the awards they have earned. We wish them great success as they embark upon new educational challenges and opportunities.”
The VMDAEC Education Scholarship Foundation is funded through tax-deductible donations and bequests from individuals, proceeds from fundraising events and CoBank’s Sharing Success Program. For information on donating to the Foundation, please visit www.vmdaec.com/scholarship.
Community Electric Cooperative, headquartered in Windsor, is a not-for-profit member-owned energy provider that serves nearly 12,000 homes, farms and businesses in the counties of Isle of Wight, Southampton, Surry and Sussex, and the City of Suffolk. For more information, go to www.comelec.coop.
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