Two Shelby students get full scholarships to Gardner-Webb University

The Star
·1 min read
The winners of Gardner-Webb University’s most competitive academic scholarship have been announced.
The winners of Gardner-Webb University’s most competitive academic scholarship have been announced.

The winners of Gardner-Webb University’s most competitive academic scholarship — Ignite Excellence — have been announced. Two students from Shelby are among the eight high school seniors who rose above the 288 top-ranked students invited to participate in on-campus interviews.

“This really was an amazingly accomplished group of finalists, and we are thrilled to welcome each of these high-ability students to GWU,” said Gardner-Webb President Dr. William M. Downs. “It’s good to see top students making our University their top choice, and the full-tuition scholarships will ensure a fast start for all of these new Runnin’ Bulldogs.  I’m eager to get them to campus in August and to watch them excel in the coming years.”

The 2024 Ignite winners from Shelby are listed below, with what they plan to study:

  • Ja’Kayla M. Alexander, nursing.

  • Lucy A. Merritt,  nursing.

Each recipient receives a full-tuition scholarship that covers the cost of tuition for eight semesters. The award is valued at $33,770 per year. The winners have an average GPA of 3.96 noted Molly Allison, director of Admissions for Undergraduate Admissions.

During the interviews, students meet one-on-one with a GWU faculty member. “Our faculty implement a standardized scoring system and ask predetermined questions to evaluate the students,” Allison explained. “Based on these assessments, we select the highest-scoring candidates as our winners.”

The 288 qualified applicants came from 19 states:

  • Alabama

  • Arkansas

  • Arizona

  • Florida

  • Georgia

  • Hawaii

  • Illinois

  • Maryland

  • Missouri

  • North Carolina

  • New Jersey

  • New York

  • Ohio

  • Pennsylvania

  • South Carolina

  • Tennessee

  • Texas

  • Virginia

  • Washington

Gardner-Webb University is North Carolina's recognized leader in private, Christian higher education. A Carnegie-Classified Doctoral/Professional University, GWU is home to nine colleges and schools, more than 80 undergraduate and graduate majors, and a world-class faculty.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Two Shelby students get full scholarships to Gardner-Webb University