Dan Edwards, Past President and Treasurer of the Virginia Beach Rotary Club, spoke to our Club via Zoom meeting on January 7, 2020, and gave everyone (including some fine new member prospects) an overview of The Brickell Scholarship program, as follows:
The Brickell Scholarship is a joint production of the Virginia Beach Rotary Club & Virginia Beach Public Schools. It was established in 1990 to Honor Dr. Edward E. Brickell, former Virginia Beach Rotarian, Teacher, Coach (state champion baseball) and school administrator. He served as the Superintendent of Virginia Beach Schools during 20 years of explosive growth – 1970’s & 80’s when the population grew from 172,000 to 396,000, also as President of the Eastern Virginia Medical School, and the Rector of the Board of Visitors for College of William & Mary.
A large endowment was established to support the program, including an annual scholarship. The Program participants are the top two students from each of the 11 VB high schools and one from the public charter school. They are selected & recognized normally in the Spring of their Junior year.
The students participate in four seminars on current topical issues selected by the students; which seminars are provided and organized jointly by the club and VB Schools' office of gifted education. The Club is responsible for providing the venues. The Club is jointly responsible for recruiting subject matter experts to lead them, with three leaders required for each seminar.
One student is selected as the $6,000 Brickell Scholarship recipient in the Spring of their senior year & recognized at a banquet, during which the incoming class for the next year’s program is also recognized.
The Virginia Beach Rotary Club, as the custodian of the funds and joint producer of the program, has an ongoing obligation to the community to sustain the program and maintain its quality for the students of the City and those who invested in its establishment and the 30 prior classes with about 600 graduates.
Past Brickell Scholarship Winners:
1990 Deepak Talreja Frank W. Cox High School
1991 Monica Nixon Princess Anne High School
1992 Evelyn Cayce Butler Salem High School
1993 Kevin Ruff Kempsville High School
1994 Ryan Shadrick First Colonial High School
1995 Michael Maraghy Bayside High School
1996 Catherine Ambler First Colonial High School
1997 Steven Lin Kempsville High School
1998 Joshua Hicks Kempsville High School
1999 Sri Krishna Mukkamala Princess Anne High School
2000 Paul Nicholas Hogan Otto Princess Anne High School
2001 Karen Christine Hogan Otto Princess Anne High School
2002 Robert A. Marx Princess Anne High School
2003 Grace Kong Huang Princess Anne High School
2004 Babita Panigrahi Ocean Lakes High School
2005 Ajay Suresh Princess Anne High School
2006 Angela Xu Princess Anne High School
2007 Ian Marpuri Princess Anne High School
2008 Sarah B. Williamson Princess Anne High School
2009 Thomas Heckleman Princess Anne High School
2010 John Woolard First Colonial High School
2011 Reid Morin Cox High School
2012 Avery Rasmussen Floyd E. Kellam High School
2013 Dih Jiun “DJ” Wang Salem High School
2014 Jessie Reeves Cox High School
2015 John S. Costello III Ocean Lakes High School
2016 Bradley Hilliard Ocean Lakes High School
2017 Grace Jeffrey Floyd E. Kellam High School
2018 Curtis Brown, Jr. Green Run High School
2019 Keano Rich Ocean Lakes High School
2020 Reed Williams Floyd E. Kellam High School