ELKINS — Elkins High School 2021 graduate Nathaniel Whetsell was recently awarded the West Virginia Wing Civil Air Patrol Scholarship.
Whetsell, who collected his diploma from EHS this past spring, will receive a renewable scholarship with the initial amount being $3,750. The scholarship can be used to assist with the costs of four-year college, community college or a vocational school. It will provide up to $2,000 per year for Civil Air Patrol cadets who maintain a 2.75 GPA.
Whetsell, a Cadet Captain with Elkins’ Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol, plans to attend Fairmont State University to study criminal justice this fall.
While serving in the CAP the past five years, Whetsell has attended the West Virginia Wing Summer Encampment in 2017 and 2018. He has completed the Cyber Familiarization Course, WV Wing Cadet Leadership Training Course and Northeast Region’s Virtual Region Cadet Leadership School.
“The West Virginia Wing Cadet Program was Colonel Dennis D. Barron’s passion and he established the West Virginia Wing Civil Air Patrol Cadet Scholarship to make a way for our cadets to continue achieving their goals outside of Civil Air Patrol,” West Virginia Wing Civil Air Patrol Commander Colonel Connie Moody said. “He was always quick to say, ‘The cadets are our future leaders.’
“As a friend and colleague of Colonel Barron, it was an honor to present the West Virginia Wing Civil Air Patrol Cadet Scholarship to Nathaniel Austin Whetsell,” Moody said.
The West Virginia Wing Civil Air Patrol Cadet Scholarship is available only to eligible cadets of the West Virginia Wing. In order to qualify for the scholarship, a West Virginia Wing cadet must have earned the Amelia Earhart Award and have graduated from high school with at least a 2.50 GPA.
The Civil Air Patrol was established in 1941 and is the official auxiliary of the United States Air Force. It operated a fleet of 560 single-engine Cessna aircraft and more than 2,000 small Unmanned Aircraft Systems.
As a non-profit organization, CAP plays a leading role in aerospace education using national academic standards-based STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education.
Courtesy – The Inter Mountain