When Andrew Smith broke his leg in eighth grade, the Cumberland International Early College High School graduate recalled that moment when he suddenly had plenty of time—and nowhere to go.
Stuck at home recovering, Smith stumbled across a $20 circuit board kit online.
His mother agreed to buy the kit, and what followed, Smith said, changed the trajectory of his life.
He started tinkering with circuits, learning how to program and experimenting with electronics. Watching a light blink on the board for the first time opened what he described as “a brand new world.”
“That circuit board kit kind of sparked that drive,” Smith said. “Whatever I could get my hands on, I just tried to do it.”
Years later, Smith found himself among dozens of Cumberland County students recognized Wednesday at the Cumberland Community Foundation’s annual scholarship awards reception at Cape Fear Botanical Garden. Rows of graduates—some still dressed in caps, gowns, and tassels from earlier ceremonies, others in dresses, suits and ties—gathered alongside families to celebrate their next chapter.
This year, the foundation awarded $1,042,300 in new and renewed scholarships, marking the third consecutive year it has awarded more than $1 million to local students. Students, families, scholarship committee volunteers, and donors attended the annual reception.
“For the third year, we are awarding over a million dollars in scholarships,” said Mary Holmes, president and CEO of the foundation. “We continue to work with donors to grow this program and open the doors of opportunity for local students.”
Each year, students apply through two separate award cycles: the Robert H. Short Scholars Program and the Community Scholarship Program.
The Robert H. Short Scholars Program is a last-dollar scholarship available to Cumberland County seniors attending accredited public universities or nonprofit private colleges and universities. That means it is designed to help cover remaining education costs after other scholarships and financial aid are applied.
Created through a $10 million gift from the estate of local businessman and philanthropist Robert H. “Bob” Short, the scholarship can award students up to $30,000.
Sixteen members of the Class of 2026 received a combined $480,000 through the program this year.
The Community Scholarship Program, meanwhile, offers awards ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 and is funded through local families, civic organizations, and community groups, including sororities, fraternities, and nonprofits. Many of the specialized scholarships awarded Wednesday—including those honoring community leaders and legacy funds—fall under that cycle.
Smith received both the Robert H. Short Scholarship and the FCHRC/Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Endowment.
Created by the Fayetteville-Cumberland Human Relations Commission, the Martin Luther King Jr. scholarship endowment supports historically underserved and deserving local students pursuing higher education.
A Culmination of Hard Work, Dedication
For Smith, the scholarships represent years of sacrifice—not just his own, but his family’s.
“This moment kind of means to me a culmination of all the hard work and dedication that not only me, but my family put into me growing up,” Smith said. “Driving me to after-school meetings, conventions out there in Raleigh and Durham—two hours away. It allows me to show them my appreciation through my hard work.”
Raised in a single-parent household, Smith has spent his high school years building an impressive resume.
At Cumberland International, he served as student body president, competed in Science Olympiad, tutored peers, and participated in research at Fayetteville State University studying possible alternatives to lithium-ion batteries. Last summer, he attended MITES Summer, a six-week residential engineering program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that accepts only about 4% of applicants.
In the fall, Smith will attend North Carolina State University to study electrical engineering, hoping one day to help improve renewable energy technology in rural communities.
“I chose to pursue electrical engineering because of my passion for electronics,” Smith said. “I am especially interested in applying my skills in the energy industry to help improve renewable energy devices, such as solar panels or small wind turbines.”
For other students, the scholarship event represented something equally important: relief.
Amirrah Whalen, a Jack Britt High School graduate and recipient of the Robert H. Short Scholarship, said the award eased fears about paying for college.
“I was super worried about having to pull out loans,” said Whalen, who plans to attend North Carolina State University to study industrial engineering.
Whalen said she found out she received the scholarship while sitting in a Starbucks with a friend who had also applied.
“We opened it up together, and we were just so happy and excited,” she said.
The scholarship, she said, offers reassurance as she prepares for college.
“If I didn’t have it, I would probably still go to college,” Whalen said. “But it would be way harder to afford.”
At Jack Britt, Whalen served as president of the Black Student Union, vice president of social events for DECA, participated in Key Club and FBLA, and was a member of both the National Honor Society and National Technical Honor Society.
For Ian Kim, Wednesday’s reception came immediately after another milestone. The valedictorian of Cumberland Polytechnic High School’s graduating class had graduated just a few hours earlier.
Still processing the whirlwind of the day, Kim said receiving both the Ella Smith Downing Charitable Scholarship Fund and the Organization of Korean-American Women of North Carolina Scholarship Endowment brought a sense of security for both him and his family.
Established in memory of Ella Smith Downing, the charitable scholarship fund helps southeastern North Carolina students facing financial hardship pursue college degrees. Meanwhile, the Organization of Korean-American Women of North Carolina scholarship supports students of Korean ancestry who demonstrate financial need and academic merit.
Kim will attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he plans to study chemistry before pursuing pharmacy through an early assurance program.
But perhaps the biggest change, he said, is how much he has grown since freshman year.
When asked what his younger self would think of becoming a valedictorian and scholarship recipient, Kim paused and laughed.
“My freshman year self, I definitely didn’t have the self-confidence I have now,” Kim said. “I was inside this kind of bubble, but throughout high school—doing speech and debate, participating in clubs and activities—it got me to grow out of my shell.”
“Younger me would have told you that I was not gonna make it,” Kim said. “Honestly, I think he would call you a liar.”
