University Newswire
Contact:
Scott Bigelow | 910.521.6351 | scott.bigelow@uncp.edu
University Communications and Marketing
Friday, June 5, 2009
Virginia businessman establishes two scholarships at UNCP
Ken Strickland, a Robeson County native, has funded two scholarship programs at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke to honor his parents and his high school.
Jepty Strickland |
A business owner and real estate investor of McLean, Va., Ken Strickland grew up in the St. Annah community and moved to the Philadelphus community where he attended and graduated from Prospect High School in 1959.
One of the scholarship programs, the Jepty Patrick Strickland Endowed Scholarship, will be awarded annually to a deserving Robeson County student. This scholarship is named for his father and honors his parents, Jepty Patrick and Mattie Bell Strickland.
Strickland said that his father was a successful farmer who owned his own farm. He was a lifelong member of the St. Annah Church. He believed strongly in the importance of religion in everyday life and in the service to his community and fellow man. He was committed to education for his children and worked diligently to provide guidance to his family toward that end.
The second scholarship fund Strickland created is the International Travel Fund in honor of the Prospect High School Class of 1959 and the teachers who inspired and encouraged him. The goal of the International Travel Fund is to assist aspiring young teachers from Robeson County who intend to teach in the Robeson County schools when they graduate, by exposing them to foreign cultures and societies as a means of enriching their educational experience.
By creating this fund, Strickland wishes to honor his teachers: James A. Jones, Con Oxendine, Ab Locklear, Joe McGirt, Coolidge Cummings and the former school principal, Danford Dial. He especially wishes to honor Eyrtle Ransom and Pauline Bullard Locklear for the confidence and wisdom they imparted to him, which helped him attain success in life.
Ken and Ruth Strickland with Chancellor Allen C. Meadors
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