New VGCC Scholarship created by Triangle North Healthcare Foundation
Students preparing for allied health careers at Vance-Granville Community College have a new resource to help them succeed, thanks to support from a community organization. The Triangle North Healthcare Foundation recently made contributions to the VGCC Endowment Fund that will create a new scholarship.
The Triangle North Healthcare Foundation Academic Achievement Award scholarship will be presented to full-time VGCC students who meet certain academic requirements. Preference will be given to students pursuing a health-related program of study, such as Pharmacy Technology , Medical Assisting , Nursing or Radiography . “We appreciate the foundation’s partnership with VGCC, which further enables us to support our community of learners to achieve professional and personal success, particularly in these growing medical career fields,” said Dr. Stelfanie Williams, VGCC’s president.
The Triangle North Healthcare Foundation is a regional grant-making organization that was established in 2011 as the successor to the Maria Parham Healthcare Foundation. The foundation focuses on Vance, Granville, Franklin and Warren counties, which also constitute the college’s service area. Its mission is to encourage, support, and invest in quality efforts that measurably improve health in the Triangle North region. “Providing scholarships for local healthcare students falls right into the scope of the Foundation’s mission,” Val Short, the executive director of Triangle North, noted. “By establishing this endowed scholarship, Triangle North Healthcare Foundation’s Board of Directors has expressed its commitment to having well-educated and trained healthcare workers in our region.”
Short said that student recipients will be called “Triangle North Foundation Scholars,” and the organization will seek to recognize and stay in touch with each one. The first scholarship was formally presented at VGCC’s annual Scholarship Awards Ceremony on Feb. 26. “Investing in educating a strong, competent, and compassionate healthcare workforce for our region is an important aspect of our scholarship program, and our first Triangle North Foundation Scholar will be a fine example for others to follow,” Short said.
“This new initiative by the Triangle North Healthcare Foundation is a wonderful example of how community support for our Endowment Fund enhances the college’s capacity to improve not only the lives of our students but our communities as well,” Dr. Williams said. Through the Endowment Fund, VGCC has awarded more than 7,000 scholarships to students since 1982. Scholarships have been endowed by numerous individuals, industries, businesses, civic groups, churches and the college’s faculty and staff. Tax-deductible donations to the VGCC Endowment Fund have often been used to honor or remember a person, group, business or industry with a lasting gift to education. For more information, call (252) 738-3409 .
Above: Val Short, the executive director of the Triangle North Healthcare Foundation (left), formally presents the scholarship donation to Dr. Stelfanie Williams, the president of VGCC. (VGCC photo)
