22 Students Awarded $100K Vanterpool Scholarships
Twenty-two Virgin Islands students are set to receive tertiary education funding through the expanded $100,000 Judith E. Vanterpool Scholarship Fund. Created by the MHV BVI Group, the initiative will disburse financial awards over the next two years. The program seeks to empower local scholars and encourage them to bring their expertise back to the territory.
Twenty-two tertiary students across the Virgin Islands will soon receive award letters for financial assistance following the expansion of the Judith E. Vanterpool University Scholarship Program to a total of $100,000. Administered by the MHV BVI Group, the scholarship program initially began as a $50,000 pledge focused primarily on supporting students from Virgin Gorda.
However, Chairman Mark Vanterpool and the group expanded the fund over subsequent months to $100,000 in order to provide greater financial backing and broaden eligibility to applicants throughout the entire territory. Successful candidates will see their awards distributed over the next two years.
The fund is named in honour of co-founder Judith E. Vanterpool, who has dedicated more than half a century to the field of education in the Virgin Islands across various levels. Vanterpool share professional backgrounds as educators, and the scholarship initiative serves as an extension of their long-standing commitment to youth empowerment and learning.
Alongside the scholarship fund, the MHV BVI Group regularly facilitates summer job training and mentorship programs for young residents. Vanterpool emphasised that the scholarship is meant to inspire confidence in the recipients beyond the monetary support, stating that they hope scholars view this investment as proof that the community believes strongly in their potential and will return to help build a stronger Virgin Islands.
To retain their scholarships, recipients attending higher learning institutions will be expected to maintain satisfactory academic standing and submit official semester or quarterly transcripts throughout their courses of study. Over the past two decades, the MHV BVI Group has assisted numerous local students through school, many of whom have returned home to contribute meaningfully to the territory's professional workforce and civic development.
Primary source: VINO