Applications now open for Parker Family Scholarship
12/31/2020, 6 p.m.
Applications are being accepted for the new Parker Family Scholarship, a $1,000 award to be given to a high school senior enrolled in Richmond Public Schools who plans to continue his or her education at a four-year college or university.
The number of scholarships to be awarded may vary from year to year, with at least one scholarship to be presented during this inaugural year.
Winners will be selected based on financial need, merit, community service and a 300- to 500-word essay that must be submitted, along with transcripts, with the application.
The application deadline is May 15, with details and applications available online at https://ctparker2.wixsite.com/scholarship.
Winners will be notified in June.
The scholarship was set up by family members in tribute to their late parents, longtime educators Mary and Ernest Parker Sr., and their late siblings, attorney Darryl A. Parker and Carlton Parker.
Ernest Parker Sr. taught at Robert Russa Moton High School in Farmville, where one of his students, Barbara Johns, led a historic student walkout in 1951 protesting deplorable conditions at the segregated school. He later moved to Virginia Randolph High School in Henrico County, where he created an after-school tutoring program and helped many students gain admission and scholarships to top universities.
Mary Parker taught in Stony Point, a farming town outside of Petersburg, before moving to the Hanover County school system, where she taught students at Washington-Henry Elementary School until her retirement.
