Twelve Virgin Islands college students chosen as Anna Walsh Scholars have received a total of $7,100 in grants from the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands.
Five of the scholars are University of the Virgin Islands students: Virginia Anthony, Marthious Clavier, Steve Lawrence, Paula Matthew, and Miguelina Simmons.
Three of the scholars, Gail Douglas, Aesha Thomas, and Janine Turbe, are students at the University of Miami.
The remaining four Scholars are Chisa Brookes, who attends North Carolina State University in Raleigh; Tiphanie Galiber Gundel at Tufts University in Boston; Trevor Julien at Moorehouse College in Atlanta; and Gareth Moise at the University of Tampa.
Each student received between $500 and $800; four of them have received Anna Walsh grants in previous years.
"Once again, the Anna Walsh Scholar Awards will help support a cadre of talented people, the future pharmacists, computer scientists, attorneys, engineers, teachers, business men and women in our community, " states Dr. Ruth Thomas, chair of the selection committee. "The Virgin Islands can be proud of these twelve students for what they have achieved as well as for their personal and professional aspirations."
The grants are funded by the income from a $140,000 bequest from Anna Greene Walsh, a twenty-year resident of Frenchman's Hills, St. Thomas. The awards were first made available in 1996, to qualifying undergraduate college students.
Ms. Walsh was a social worker in New York City, where her supervisor was Hulita Blyden, a native Virgin Islander. In 1973 when Ms. Walsh retired, she moved to St. Thomas.