The scholarship committee – Linda Evans, Mary Martin, Martha Steger and Susan Wienecki – had a difficult time deciding among the impressive group of 2007 applicants. Because the VPW Agnes Cooke Foundation Vanguard fund had done so well in 2006, two scholarships were awarded:
Tierney McAfee – McAfee is a University of Mary Washington rising senior. The 22-year-old Doylestown, Penn., native completed a 2006 internship at The Free Lance-Star and published numerous articles in various sections of the paper. For the last three years she has been a staff writer for UMW's weekly paper The Bullet and will serve as features editor this year. During the summer she is interned at the Philadelphia Weekly. She has been able to maintain a GPA to keep her on the Dean's List during her college career. Due to a cruel twist in her family's financial situation, she is forced to pay for her education.
Alyssa Walden – Walden is a journalism major at Ferrum College, where she serves as the 2007 editor-in-chief of The Iron Blade, the Ferrum College newspaper, after being the 2005–2006 Sports Editor. She also has been on the Dean's List each semester of her academic career. Other awards she has received are the Roy Stanley Miller Journalism Award from WDBJ News Channel 7 and the Richmond Times-Dispatch. According to her letter of recommendation and bio, she is a highly motivated student who also motivates others. Alyssa's dad was killed by a drunk driver when she was 3 months old. She and her sister are first-generation college students. Alyssa, her sister and her mother are working numerous jobs to pay for tuition fees.
