ROCKY MOUNT, N.C., (June 15, 2021) – Today, the Golden LEAF Foundation announced that 215 rural North Carolina students were selected to receive up to a $12,000 Golden LEAF Scholarship, including three in Bladen County.
Students will receive a $3,000 scholarship each year for up to four years of undergraduate study at a participating four-year North Carolina college or university. Recipients from rural and tobacco-dependent or economically distressed North Carolina counties are selected based on career and educational goals, a review of school and community service activities, academic performance, length of residence in the county and expressed intent to contribute to the state’s rural communities upon graduation from college.
The Golden LEAF Foundation established the Golden LEAF Scholarship Program to broaden educational opportunities and provide support to students from rural counties with the goal that after graduation recipients will return and contribute back to rural communities. The North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority (NCSEAA) administers the program and selects students for awards.
“We are proud to award scholarships to hardworking and bright students with deep roots in their rural communities,” said Scott T. Hamilton, Golden LEAF Foundation President, Chief Executive Officer. “These students were selected out of a pool of more than 1,500 applicants. We look forward to the future success of these scholarship recipients as they follow their education pursuits and develop into North Carolina’s next generation of rural leaders.”
“It is my honor to congratulate this year’s recipients of the Golden LEAF Scholarship,” said Representative William Brisson. “These students have worked hard in both academics and community service. District 22 is blessed to have such hard working young adults.”
The newly selected 2021-22 Golden LEAF Scholarship recipients are as follows:
| Name | High School | University | |
| Devin Bowen | East Bladen High School | NC Agricultural and Technical State University | |
| Ethan Davis | West Bladen High School | Campbell University | |
| Zachary Meares | East Bladen High School | University of North Carolina at Pembroke | |
About Golden LEAF Foundation:
The Golden LEAF Foundation is a nonprofit organization established in 1999 to receive a portion of North Carolina’s funding from the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with cigarette manufacturers. For 20 years, Golden LEAF has worked to increase economic opportunity in North Carolina’s rural and tobacco-dependent communities through leadership in grantmaking, collaboration, innovation, and stewardship as an independent and perpetual foundation.
The Foundation has provided lasting impact to tobacco-dependent, economically distressed and rural areas of the state by helping create 65,000 jobs, over half a billion dollars in new payrolls and more than 85,000 workers trained or retrained for higher wages.
For more information about Golden LEAF and our programs, please visit our website at www.goldenleaf.org.
About Author
