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Jordan Newman, a senior at Cumberland High School, has earned a $1,500 educational scholarship from the Virginia Cooperative Council (VCC).

After the state response to the COVID-19 pandemic forced cancellation of VCC’s annual Virginia Institute on Cooperative Education (VICE), student applicants were invited to complete a more in-depth project on the cooperative business of their choice in order to be considered for scholarships normally awarded to top VICE participants.

“Jordan not only earned 100% scores on two online tests based on information we provided about Virginia cooperatives, but also submitted a top-notch report on Farmers’ Cooperative of Farmville,” VCC board member Brian Wolfe, who works for Rappahannock Electric Cooperative and served on this year’s review panel, said.

Newman has been accepted by Virginia Tech for the fall, where he plans to study agribusiness.

“VCC scholarships are funded by the Virginia Foundation of Cooperation, created a decade ago following generous donations by Claud Scroggs and Luther Raper,” Executive Secretary Mary Howell said. “Despite limitations created by COVID-19, we were able to fulfill our mission of educating young Virginians about cooperatives and give this year’s VICE applicants the same opportunity to earn scholarships as in previous years.”