In a room full of students, families and donors, the Cumberland Community Foundation awarded $1,046,250 in scholarships to high school seniors to assist with their goals in higher education.
The awards ceremony took place at the Cape Fear Botanical Garden on Wednesday night where the leadership, academics and extracurricular achievements of local students were celebrated.
Established in 1980, the charitable foundation works with donors to create and design their own scholarship endowment fund, either during the donor’s life or through a gift in the donor’s will, according to its president and CEO Mary Holmes.
“For the second year, we are awarding over a million dollars in scholarships,” Holmes said. “We continue to work with donors to grow this program and open the doors of opportunity for local students.”
Vera Bell, chair of the Robert H. Short scholarship committee, and committee member Reshma Beal said that after a competitive process 13 students were chosen to receive $7,500 a year for four years. Bell spoke about the significance of the Robert H. Short scholarship.
“Robert H. Short was a native of Fayetteville, who lived in the Massey Hill area,” Bell said. “He didn’t have an opportunity for school and didn’t have any children, but he was a successful businessman. He made it so that students in Cumberland County could attend school.”
Beal said the committee looked at students’ applications that included academic achievement, community service and work history.
Ashton Horne, an 18-year-old student from Cape Fear High School, was one of the recipients of the Robert H. Short scholarship. He hopes to major in business at UNC-Chapel Hill in the fall.
Horne’s application stood out with extracurricular activities, including helping his grandmother with family restaurant Big Daddy’s Grill in Sampson County, a mission trip to Guatemala, playing the bass guitar in his church band and volunteering with special needs students in school and within his family.
Gail Riddle, chair of the Cumberland Community Foundation Board of Directors, applauded the students’ many long days and nights of hard work who are headed to universities in North Carolina and beyond.
“As you begin this new life, go forward with a sure foot and even if you stumble, you have a community ready to steady you once again,” Riddle said. “Follow your dreams and make your community, your state and your nation great.”
Riddle encouraged those ready for their next step to “make thoughtful decisions and seize their futures.”
“You will change the world,” Riddle said.
Jayden Bailey, a 17-year-old senior from E.E. Smith High School, received two scholarships to attend North Carolina Central University and hopes to major in theatre and dance and minor in communications.
She plans to return to Fayetteville when she is finished with college.
“When I get my degree, I’m coming back to be a part of this community,” Bailey said.
One of the two scholarships she received was the Susan Townsend Barnes Scholarship Endowment named for the foundation’s long-time scholarship program manager Susan Barnes, who retired in 2024 after 19 years. She was credited with growing the scholarship program from $47,000 in 2004 to over $1 million today.
Barnes was at the ceremony to see the first scholarship awarded from the endowment fund, applauding Bailey from the side of the room.
“I’m very excited to see what this scholarship does and for the students who will receive it now and in the future,” Barnes said.
Another student received the Maxine Cook Manger Scholarship, reserved for a Jack Britt High School student demonstrating patriotic spirit through ROTC service, ambition and heart, activities, leadership and character. Nya Bunyan, 18, plans to attend Winston-Salem State University to major in psychology and minor in forensic science.
“My ROTC instructor encouraged me to apply for the scholarship,” Bunyan said. “I wrote my essay about what it was like to be the company commander at my school and how ROTC impacted me and my peers.”
Taking in her final days at Fayetteville Academy, Campbell Burt received the Gurney and Olive McLaughlin scholarship. Burt, 18, plans to attend the University of Tennessee to major in animal services.
“I’m hoping to get into veterinary school,” Burt said, while being congratulated by other attendees, as her mom Dawn Burt smiled next to her.
Kimmi Nettles, who took over for Barnes as the scholarship program manager last year, said the ceremony and scholarships show that there are wonderful things happening in the world.
“We see so much on the news, but this is where we see how bright our future is,” Nettles said. “Our students are going to do great things and this entire room shows how generous and selfless our volunteers and donors are to help them get there.”
Nettles said there are ceremonies each year in the fall and spring to give out awards. To find out more about the Cumberland County Foundation, visit cumberlandcf.org or call 910-483-4449.
Jami McLaughlin writes for CityView. She can be reached at jmclaughlin@cityviewnc.com or at 910-391-4870.
