An 18-year-old student about to graduate from the Charlotte Amalie High School is being honored as the first Virgin Islander to win a four-year scholarship to Old Dominion University.
According to Episcopal Bishop Theodore Daniel, the scholarship being awarded to Nicole Turnbull was made possible by a new alliance formed between the dioscese of the Virgin Islands and its counterpart in Southern Virginia.
Daniel planned formally to announce Turnbull as the scholarship winner Wednesday night at the CAHS Honors Night ceremony.
Daniel said he first learned of the scholarship opporunity for a Virgin Islander while attending a convention. "I spoke at their convention in February and the young people who were present offered to sponsor one of our young people for a four-year scholarship to Old Dominion University," he said.
Through the church's companion dioscese program, Episcopalians/Anglicans from different regions assist one another. Virgin Islanders, in the course of their seven-month relationship, have made contributions to the Youth-at-Risk program and a church center's reconstruction fund for the Southern Virginian dioscese.
Back home, the availability of the scholarship was announced in all local Episcopal churches. Daniel said the application submitted by Turnbull, a parishioner at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, impressed the selection committee.
The bishop said one of the reasons he went to the convention was "to offer opportunities to our young people." He added, "It's really an exciting time for us in the diocese."
Turnbull still has to go through the process of applying for admission to Old Dominion. She says she hopes to pursue a medical education career.
