13 Graduating Seniors Receive Mount Vernon Springfield Chamber Scholarships

MOUNT VERNON, VA — Graduating seniors who plan to pursue business studies will be aided by scholarships funded by local businesses and the local chamber.

Last week, the Mount Vernon Springfield Chamber of Commerce held a scholarship reception to award scholarships to 13 students. The scholarships are collectively worth $26,000 and go to students who will study a business-related field.

The scholarship winners are: Bianca Blancaflor of Lake Braddock High School; Jackson Brown of Edison High School; Lauren Cremer of Bishop Ireton High School; Julia Hopper of West Potomac High School; John Hood of Mount Vernon High School; Jada-Ane Larkin of Hayfield Secondary School; William Michael Meares of Mount Vernon High School; Adam Peverill of Mount Vernon High School; John Shaffer of South County High School; Laura Ridgeway of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology; Maxwell Riggs of Hayfield Secondary School; Steven Liu of Annandale High School; and Nicole Trejo of John R. Lewis High School.

"The Chamber is committed to providing scholarships for local high school students," said Holly
Dougherty, president of the Mount Vernon Springfield Chamber of Commerce. "We think this is
the right thing to do and we consider the scholarships an investment in the future of the
community."

The scholarships were provided through fundraising by the chamber's Education Partnership. The Education Partnership's board of directors that fundraised and selected scholarship winners were Scott Stroh III of Gunston Hall; Michael Bennett of Ourisman Automotive Group; Travis Clarke of Burke & Herbert Bank; Don Cammarata of Covanta Fairfax; Holly Dougherty of Mount Vernon Springfield Chamber; George Ksenics of Andrews Federal Credit Union; Mike Murphy of Mount Vernon Knights of Columbus; Alex Thalacker of Fairfax County Economic Development Authority; Eric Christensen of Springfield Town Center; and Genie Wilford of Edison High School Academy.

At last week's scholarship reception, the featured speaker was retired Brig. Gen. Robert Jorgensen, the president of the Army Retirement Residence Foundation - Potomac. Jorgensen spoke about how youth are developing their talents and making a difference in the community and encouraged them to "never give up."

The scholarships are a result of local business donations and fundraising at the annual Chamber Golf Classic. Businesses that provided full scholarships were Covanta Fairfax, Ourisman Automotive dealerships, CDI Inc., Rubrik, and Cisco. For more than 20 years, the chamber has provided over $294,000 in scholarships.

The chamber covers the Fairfax County communities of Burke, Franconia, Kingstowne, Lorton, Mount Vernon, Springfield, and South Alexandria. The chamber merged last year from the previous Mount Vernon Lee Chamber and Greater Springfield Chamber.