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Four outstanding students from Bluefield College in Bluefield, Virginia, were honored recently for academic achievement, leadership, and service learning during the 19th Annual Virginia College Fund Scholars Seminar.

December 8, 2008

Four outstanding students from Bluefield College in Bluefield, Virginia, were honored recently for academic achievement, leadership, and service learning during the 19th Annual Virginia College Fund Scholars Seminar.    

The students -- Joshua Brintle of Tazewell, Virginia, Sarah Cordill of Princeton, West Virginia, Lisa Reale of Newark, Delaware, and Bradley Shockley of Galax, Virginia -- were recognized as 2008-2009 Beazley and Virginia Collegium Scholars.    

The scholarship awards are presented annually by the Virginia College Fund (VCF) through the generosity of the Beazley Foundation of Portsmouth, Virginia, and other VCF supporters.    

The Beazley Foundation was founded by the late Frederick C. Beazley. Born in 1892 into a lower-class family in Portsmouth, Beazley became a self-made millionaire by the 1920s in the ice and warehouse industries. He, along with his wife, Marie, and their son, Frederick, Jr., created the Beazley Foundation, in 1948 to provide for students something the elder Beazley never had.    "The Foundation and scholarships were important to Mr. Beazley, because he had no formal education," said Judge Richard Bray, president of the Beazley Foundation.

"He achieved great success, but always felt uncomfortable in his circles about the fact that he had no education. He wanted students to have a sense of confidence that only comes from having an education. He decided to do everything he could to see that no child who wanted an education would go without it."    

In 1993, Mr. and Mrs. Bruce C. Gottwald, Sr. of Richmond, Virginia, and the Mars Foundation of McLean, Virginia, created a new scholarship endowment, much like the Beazley fund, to award Virginia Collegium Scholarships to VCF-member students.    

"It is our honor and privilege to serve as a conduit for the generosity of donors and foundations," said Dr. Will Pearson, president of the Virginia College Fund. "If it were not for the generosity of contributors like these, the Virginia College Fund would not exist. Their generosity allows us to provide support for students."    

Bluefield College's Brintle and Shockley received Beazley Scholar awards. Cordill and Reale earned Virginia Collegium Scholar gifts.    

"Since 1988, outstanding students from member institutions of the Virginia College Fund have benefited from the generosity of the Beazley Foundation," said Bluefield College president, Dr. David Olive. "In fact, nearly a half million dollars in scholarships have been awarded to students through the Beazley Foundation."

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