NC community college students honored for excellence in education

RALEIGH – Students from North Carolina’s community colleges are receiving awards for academic excellence, as well as the Governor Robert W. Scott Student Leadership Award and the Dr. Dallas Herring Achievement Award.

The recognitions coincide with North Carolina Community College Excellence in Education Month, as proclaimed by Gov. Roy Cooper.

John W. Kelly, a student at Guilford Technical Community College in Jamestown, is the 2018 recipient of the Governor Robert W. Scott Student Leadership Award. The award, sponsored by the North Carolina Association of Community College Presidents, was created in 2004 to recognize student leadership on a statewide level while also honoring Scott, one of the earliest supporters of the NC Community College System and its president from 1983 until 1994. Each award recipient receives a plaque and a $1,000 scholarship from the NC Community Colleges Foundation.

Chase Towers, a student at Southeastern Community College in Whiteville, is the 2018 recipient of the Dr. Dallas Herring Achievement Award. The award was established in 2010 by the NCACCP to honor the late Dr. Dallas Herring, considered one of the founding fathers of community colleges in North Carolina. The award is presented annually to a current or former student who best embodies Herring’s philosophy of “taking people where they are and carrying them as far as they can go.” Each recipient receives a plaque and a $1,000 scholarship from the NC Community Colleges Foundation.

Community college students also were selected for Academic Excellence Awards. Selection requirements are consistent with Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society criteria. Students must be currently enrolled, have completed at least 12 semester hours in an associate degree program, and have a cumulative grade point average of no less than 3.25.

AEA winners receive a plaque and medallion in honor of their academic accomplishments. The winners are as follows: