GEC graduate receives Golden Leaf Scholarship
Dorien Sutton, 2022 Greene Early College and Lenoir Community College graduate, has received the Golden Leaf Foundation Scholarship, as announced by the Foundation’s CEO, Scott T. Hamilton.
From a pool of 1600 applicants for 2022, there were 215 rural students from 78 North Carolina counties who were selected to receive a Golden LEAF Scholarship worth up to $14,000 each. High school seniors entering college as first year students are eligible for a $3,500 scholarship each year for up to four years of undergraduate study at a participating four-year North Carolina college or university. Community college transfer students are eligible for $3,500 a year for up to three years of undergraduate study.
The Golden LEAF Scholarship strives to increase economic opportunities for North Carolina’s rural, tobacco-dependent, and economically distressed areas by investing in students who commit to attend a North Carolina institution, graduate, and return to a rural community in the state.
The Golden LEAF Foundation was established in 1999 to administer a portion of the tobacco settlement agreement monies back into North Carolina's rural and economically distressed communities. Since its inception, the Golden LEAF Foundation has awarded more than $55.2 million in scholarship funding to more than 25,000 students.
In addition to his academic accomplishments while at GEC, Dorien completed his Eagle Scout requirements, received Greene County NC Governor’s Teen Volunteer Service Award, selected as Walstonburg’s Volunteer Fire Department as Rookie of the Year (2019) and the department’s Firefighter of the Year(2020). Dorien will be attending East Carolina University in the Fall.
