Tam and Betsy Vannoy Memorial Scholarship

Funded by
Nancy Totten
$3,000
1 winner$3,000
Open
Application Deadline
May 30, 2024
Winners Announced
Jun 30, 2024
Education Level
High School
2
Contributions
Recent Bold.org scholarship winners
Eligibility Requirements
State:
West Virginia
Education Level:
High school senior, undergraduate, post- secondary trade school
State:
Education Level:
West Virginia
High school senior, undergraduate, post- secondary trade school

Tam and Betsy Vannoy grew up in the small town of Welch, West Virginia. Tam proudly served in the United States Army during WWII, graduated from West Virginia University (WVU) with a degree in journalism, and remained an avid, lifelong WVU mountaineer sports fan. Tam enjoyed a full career as a journalist, retiring as an accomplished magazine editor. In retirement, he authored a book.

Betsy, a homemaker, raised four children with Tam. When the youngest headed to college, Betsy fulfilled her dream of opening an independent used bookstore in order to share her love of literature and reading with others. One location expanded to two, and Betsy ran these popular bookstores for over 25 years. Betsy cherished her relationships with her employees, customers, and the charitable organizations she supported through her many book donations.

Any high school senior, undergraduate, or trade school student in West Virginia may apply for this scholarship. 

To apply, tell us why you’re interested in your major and how your experience with volunteer work or service to others has impacted your goals.

Selection Criteria:
Ambition, Need, Boldest Bold.org Profile
Published January 30, 2024
$3,000
1 winner$3,000
Open
Application Deadline
May 30, 2024
Winners Announced
Jun 30, 2024
Education Level
High School
2
Contributions
Recent Bold.org scholarship winners
Essay Topic

How has previous experience(s) with volunteer work or service to others shaped your goal of pursuing higher education?

400–600 words

Winning Application

Amelia Pearson
University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh CampusPittsburgh, PA
If there’s anything that sticks out to me in the world of sports, it’s hockey; if there’s anything that sticks out to me in the world of hockey, it’s journalism. I think articles in hockey define the sport, because that’s what people all around the world read. When the Stanley Cup Champions are announced, there are always articles from the champion team, ESPN, TSN Sports, and so many other networks. Whether it’s a play-by-play article, opinion article, or interview, hockey is showcased as a whole. I want to represent a team, organization, or network by utilizing my writing skills to write top tier articles to be read by the whole country. Out of all thirty-two NHL clubs, I am partial to the Pittsburgh Penguins. I mean, it’s hard not to, as during my youth Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang, and Evgeni Malkin were (and still are) dominating the league. I followed the Penguins mainly on social media, but when I saw articles on my timeline, I read them. I found these articles to be quite interesting, as their authors equipped themselves with incredible diction and imagery. These writers also get to be around professional hockey players and watch their games, which would be a nice bonus. My favorite journalist at the moment is Mike DeFabo, a beat writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. DeFabo mainly writes about the Penguins, and he has a great Twitter feed. To be a journalist for a professional hockey team would require watching, analyzing, and breaking down the game, which sounds incredibly fun to me. The atmosphere at professional hockey games is out of this world, and being around people supporting one team creates a feel-good moment. Watching a fast-paced, energetic, intense game feels less like a job and more like a career to me. Sports journalism is a profession where I truly believe I could show up to work happy every day. All in all, sports journalism is a place where I think I belong. This industry is dominated by men, but I feel as though I would have a strong presence wherever I end up. I want my articles to impact the hockey world. Getting to interview NHL star players, coaches, and Hall-of-Famers is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I think that if I complete my bachelor’s degree in college and acquire internships throughout those four years, I could come out with a great job, and if I don’t, I will roll up my sleeves and climb the ladder to the top. I believe that a career in sports journalism would make me truly happy. Through volunteering for my high school's wrestling team, I was able to record the wrestles at all of their tournaments. Doing this opened my eyes to the world of sports and how much fun talking about sports can be. Volunteering for the wrestlers inspired my major and I have continued to pursue activities and volunteer opportunities since my time with the team came to an end.
Michael Hensley
Southern New Hampshire University- OnlineWhitesville, WV
Growing up in the coalfields of Appalachia, technology is not a strong suit of our people. Kids my age were primarily focused on hunting, fishing, and other outdoor activities. While I enjoyed those activities, my primary focus was computer-related tasks. Naturally, upon entering high school, I worked closely with the computer teacher, Randy Herron. I took every class he had to offer, only one of which was required by the school. I became a computer assistant, it was a program that replaced typical vocational school. Shortly after, I found myself volunteering for different projects around the school. These became available through an after-school program called Project Goal and video journalism was offered as an elective. As a computer assistant, I managed the school website, started live-streaming school events, and spearheaded video journalism and drone programs. With the help of Wanda Dotson, Matthew Stollings, and Randy Herron, all teachers supporting these projects, these programs took off. This sparked an interest in many students who likely would not have interacted with this technology otherwise. An untold amount of hours was put into the programs by myself and other computer assistants. I'll begin with the school website. One of the projects that I supervised as a computer assistant was the school website. Sherman High School has maintained a student-designed website for many years. I eventually built a reputation for my HTML scripting. Randy Herron took notice of this and asked if I would be interested in maintaining the website for the school. I accepted the offer, I operated the website from January 2014 to June 2016. At the end of the 2013-2014 school year, I approached Mr. Herron with the proposition that we could stream the 2014 graduation ceremony. Working closely with Mr. Herron, we discovered many issues with this idea logistically. The largest being YouTube was not an allowed website on the school's internet access. Unfortunately, the 2014 graduation ceremony was not live-streamed. However, the information that we learned was invaluable. Beginning in the 2014-2015 school year, I began working on live-streaming sports events. This was not a small task, I was placing phone calls to Board of Education officials, and even the technology director of the county. Eventually, I received all permissions needed, through the proper channels. My team and I began streaming with the 2015 graduation ceremony. In the 2015-2016 school year, my team streamed numerous sporting events and the torch was passed to the next group of computer assistants when they streamed the graduation ceremony for my class, the class of 2016. This was arguably one of my larger contributions to the technology program at Sherman High School. The last live stream on the school's YouTube channel was completed a year ago. Project Goal was an after-school program, in which I participated. The teachers that supported this program were Wanda Dotson and Matthew Stollings. I was approached by these teachers with the task of ordering video editing software, video production equipment, and a drone capable of recording video. We started a drone tour, going to the feeder schools for Sherman High School. Part of this drone tour was an aerial demonstration of the drone. During this section, a picture of the students was taken. After, a question and answer took place, to which we answered numerous questions from the students.

FAQ

When is the scholarship application deadline?

The application deadline is May 30, 2024. Winners will be announced on Jun 30, 2024.