May 13, 2013

For Immediate Release

 

WATAUGA-ASHE-WILKES SCHOLARSHIP HONORS GRADUATES

 

The Watauga-Ashe-Wilkes Scholarship Board honored its 2013 recipients and their families with a dinner banquet at Sagebrush Steakhouse in Wilkesboro, NC on Thursday, April 11, 2013.  The 2013 Watauga county recipient is Jake Page, son of John and Julie Page.  The 2013 Ashe county recipients are Kelsey Eggers, daughter of Nathan Roger Eggers and Angela R. Eggers; and Hayley Ragland, daughter of Dean Ragland and Dana Andrews.  The 2013 Wilkes county recipients are Cassandra “Cassie” Carter, daughter of Robert & Nina Hayes; and Avery Wallis, son of Charles and Heather Wallis. 

 

The Watauga-Ashe-Wilkes Scholarship was organized in 2001 by Phil Stevens.  Phil grew up on the Watauga County side of Todd, North Carolina.  He attended Beaver Creek High School in Ashe County and retired from Lowe’s Companies in Wilkes.  Thus, the name of the scholarship:  The Watauga-Ashe-Wilkes Scholarship.  He has a heart for young adults in these three counties.    

 

The WAW Scholarship is a $2,000 scholarship awarded to students in each of the named counties and is renewable for up to four years.  Each recipient is eligible to receive a total of $8,000 in scholarship support over four years.  The WAW Scholarship board members select recipients based on each student’s application, two submitted essays, and three letters of recommendation. Since 2001, over $250,000 has been awarded to students to support the pursuit of higher education. 

 

The scholarship funds have been raised primarily through an annual golf tournament held at Jefferson Landing.  This year’s tournament will be held on Thursday, September 12. The fund has raised over $100,000 in a single tournament in the past.  Attendants in past tournaments have included NASCAR drivers Benny Parsons, Phil Parsons, Dennis Sentzer and Jimmy Spencer and NFL players Dwight Clark, Dave Butts, Neal Clabo, Stanley Morgan, and George Rogers and UNC Basketball player Phil Ford.  The Watauga-Ashe-Wilkes Scholarship funds are managed by the North Carolina Community Foundation which is a 501(c)3 corporation. 

 

Current board members are:  Phil Stevens, Bradley McNeil, Kim Barnes, Danny Holman, Allison Phillips, Charles Hartzog, Michael Lyall, and Daphne Petrey. 

 

For more information on the Watauga-Ashe-Wilkes Scholarship or its fundraiser golf tournament, you can visit www.wawscholarship.org.