HIGH POINT, N.C. — The WithIt Scholarship Foundation has awarded 17 students with a total of $31,500 in academic funding. The winners were honored at the recent WithIt Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, and also received student WithIt memberships.
Scholarship honorees, their majors and institutions include: Olga Abadi Nakach, furniture design, Savannah College of Art and Design; Noor Abdulrahman, architecture, University of Houston; Mary Barone, industrial Design, University of Cincinnati; Aliyah Boly, architecture, University of Houston; Melia Foster, furniture design, Savannah College of Art and Design; Sarah Furches, fashion and textile management, N.C. State University; Leila Goetsch, interior architecture, U.N.C.-Greensboro; Maggie Harrell, interior design, Randolph Community College; Triniti Henderson, architecture, Clemson University; Isabella Herrarte Smith, interior design, Virginia Commonwealth University; Hailey Ingram, interior design, Randolph Community College; Natalie Krinke, home product development, Fashion Institute of Technology; Ava McRorie, fashion and textile management, N.C. State University; Christy Perkins, fashion and textile management, N.C. State University; Audrey Perry, interior design, Florida State University; Alana Tucker, industrial design, University of Cincinnati; Destiny Webster, interior design, High Point University.
“The scholarships provided through the WithIt Scholarship Foundation are an important pipeline we are building for the industry,” said Amy Van Dorp, executive director of WithIt. “The HHG Charitable Trust grant includes attendance at our annual professional conference gives students an incredible opportunity to meet industry leaders and make connections that can lead to internships, employment and mentorship. Meeting people in the industry allows us to introduce students to the many career opportunities within home furnishings and help them envision a future here. Our historical data shows the impact these scholarships have on the industry as a whole. Many past recipients are now business owners and industry leaders who were given a head start through WithIt.”
The WithIt Scholarship Foundation has awarded more than $340,000 in scholarships since 1999 to students pursuing majors related to the home and furnishings industry, making WithIt the top distributor of scholarships for careers that feed the industry. These diverse scholarship recipients from over 24 universities across the country have a 94% retention rate in the home furnishings industry.
