Nine students have been awarded scholarship funds for their education at Virginia Tech. The scholarships are made possible through an endowment established by the late F. W. Sonny Merryman, Jr., of Rustburg, Virginia. A longtime university benefactor, Merryman was the founder and patriarch of the company which bears his name – Sonny Merryman Inc. – Virginia’s oldest and largest school bus dealer.
Five Virginia Tech students with ties to the state’s school bus community have each been awarded $2,500 Public Pupil Transportation Scholarships at the university. To be eligible for the scholarships students must be enrolled full-time at Virginia Tech and have a parent or grandparent currently or formerly employed by a public pupil transportation operation in Virginia.
The 2017 scholarship recipients of the Public Pupil Transportation Scholarships are Ashley Roberts, Brittany Vicars, Christopher Shorter, Corey Capehart and Laura Bruckner. Roberts is a graduate of Park View High School in Mecklenburg County and is a Virginia Tech senior majoring in Accounting and Information Systems. Both her grandparents and her mother are former school bus drivers in Mecklenburg County. Vicars is a graduate of Abingdon High School in Washington County and is a junior Wildlife Conservation major at Tech. Her mother is an office administrator and part-time school bus driver in Washington County. Christopher Shorter is a graduate of Nottoway High School and a Tech sophomore majoring in Forestry. His grandmother is a transportation supervisor in Southampton County. Corey Capehart is a graduate of Atlee High School in Hanover County and is a University Studies major in her sophomore year in Blacksburg. Her mother is a former school bus driver in Henrico County. Laura Bruckner is a graduate of E.C. Glass High School in Lynchburg and is a sophomore studying Human Nutrition and Foods. Her father is a former school bus driver in Lynchburg.
Since being established in 2003, Public Pupil Transportation Scholarships have been awarded to 57 Virginia Tech students providing more than $140,000 in academic awards.
Four 2017 Central Virginia area high school graduates have been named Merryman Scholars at Virginia Tech. Each student will receive a $5,000 scholarship award for their freshman year at the university. To be eligible for the scholarships, students must be a graduate of a public high school in Central Virginia and enrolled full-time at Virginia Tech for the 2017-18 academic year.
The 2017 scholarship recipients are Mikhala Underwood from Staunton River High School in Bedford County, Kendall Knight from Brookville High School in Campbell County, Kennedy Schultz from Altavista High School, also in Campbell County, and Lauren Lawson from Appomattox County High School.
Since the Merryman Scholars program’s inception, $450,000 in aid has been awarded.