The Houston VTAA Chapter has awarded another scholarship to an incoming freshman from a Houston area high school.  The 2010 scholarship, in the amount of $2,000, is being awarded to Caroline Schwartz of Second Baptist School.  Caroline’s interests include community service and volleyball.

The Houston VTAA Chapter would like to announce the winner for 2011-2012 scholarship which is awarded to an incoming freshman from a Houston area high school.  The 2011 scholarship, in the amount of $2,000, is being awarded to Katherine Harpster from William P. Clements High School in Sugar Land.  Katherine plans to major in business at Virginia Tech.  Her interests include community service (with several years of volunteer service at Texas Children’s Hospital) and swimming.  We congratulate Katherine and extend our best wishes to the nine incoming freshmen from the Houston area for much success during their Virginia Tech years. 

The Virginia Tech Foundation in Blacksburg administers the Houston Chapter scholarship fund.  The Virginia Tech Admissions Office distributes application information for the chapter scholarship to all Houston area students along with their offers of admission.  The main criteria for the scholarship are academic excellence, leadership, and strong extra-curricular activities.  The Scholarship Committee is comprised of six local Virginia Tech alumni members: Mike Strickler (Chairman), Fred Gibson, Bart Hatfield, Sneed Adams, Mike Hoffmann, and Wendi Sudhakar.  Each member is responsible for thoroughly reviewing all of the application materials, providing feedback and a ranking of each applicant, and selecting a recipient by statistical ranking and a final vote.  The committee members are all working or retired professionals with experience in recruiting in their respective fields.  If you know of any Houston area students that may be considering Virginia Tech, please make them aware of our Houston VTAA Chapter scholarship.

We are very proud that this is the seventh year that the Houston Chapter has awarded at least one scholarship.  Here is a list of the previous winners:

Are you interested in supporting future young Houston Hokies?  Please consider a tax-deductible contribution to the Houston chapter scholarship fund through the Virginia Tech Foundation so we can keep our scholarship tradition of giving going into the future.  Important note: Donations to the Virginia Tech Foundation qualify for most company matching programs!

To make a donation, please make a check for any amount payable to "Virginia Tech Foundation"; include "Houston Chapter Scholarship Fund" on the memo line, and mail to the following address:

Virginia Tech Annual Fund
201 Pack Building (0336)
Blacksburg, VA 24061