Three Students Earn Engineering Scholarships - Wayne Community College | Goldsboro, NC

Three Students Earn Engineering Scholarships

September 14, 2020

Three Wayne Community College students are the first recipients of a new engineering scholarship.

Alexis Ferro of Mount Olive, Ashley Sutton of Snow Hill, and Charles Tutor of Seven Springs, all working toward associate degrees in engineering, were awarded “PIRATES” scholarships.

Engineering majors Ashley Sutton and Charles Tutor (second and third from left) have been awarded scholarships by the PIRATES in Engineering Program. With them are Yolanda Spruill, an ECU graduate assistant who is a liaison between the programs (far left) and Dr. Sam Pouryoussefi, WCC Engineering instructor (far right). Alexis Ferro, who is also a scholarship recipient, is not pictured.

The funds for the scholarship are from the Providing Inclusive Residential and Transfer Experience Scholarships (PIRATES) in Engineering program at East Carolina University. It provides $3,000 annual scholarships for low-income students enrolled in WCC’s Associate in Engineering program who plan to transfer into an engineering degree program at ECU.

If the recipients transfer into ECU’s College of Engineering and Technology, their scholarships could continue at up to $10,000 per year for two more years.

The program was made possible by a $4 million grant to East Carolina University’s College of Engineering and Technology from the National Science Foundation Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Program (S-STEM).

“As part of this grant, Wayne Community College can award up to five scholarships for each of the next two academic years,” said WCC Arts and Sciences Division Dean Brandon Jenkins.

Two $1,500 scholarships are available for Spring 2021 for students majoring in engineering at WCC who have unmet financial need, he said.

The application is online. The deadline to apply is Oct. 29, 2020.

For more information on the PIRATES in Engineering Scholarship or WCC’s Associate in Engineering degree program, contact the College Transfer Advising Center.

About WCC
Wayne Community College is a public, learning-centered institution with an open-door admission policy located in Goldsboro, N.C. As it works to develop a highly skilled and competitive workforce, the college serves 12,000 individuals annually as well as businesses, industry, and community organizations with high quality, affordable, accessible learning opportunities, including more than 100 college credit programs. WCC’s mission is to meet the educational, training, and cultural needs of the communities it serves.

About ECU
East Carolina University, or ECU as it’s best known, offers more than 85 bachelor’s, 72 master’s and 19 doctoral degrees to nearly 29,000 students on its Greenville, North Carolina, campus and through an acclaimed online learning program.
ECU’s Department of Engineering, which resides in the School of Engineering and Technology, is accredited by the ABET, Inc. Engineering Accreditation Commission. It has approximately 550 students served by 28 faculty members who represent 21 fields of engineering. ECU offers a BS in Engineering with six concentrations: Biomedical Engineering, Bioprocess Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Environmental, Industrial and Systems Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. To learn on the Department of Engineering website.

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