Chancellor Martin congratulates Desiree Hedrick as his 2018 award for Academic Excellence.

CAES scholarship is in full bloom this season, with the recent award announcements of the inaugural Cheatham-White Scholarships, the Lewis and Elizabeth Dowdy Scholars, and the Chancellor’s Award for Academic Excellence.  All awards are predicated on high grade-point averages and demonstrated scholarship.

“Excellence in academics has always been part of the mission for the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences and these students are examples of this ideal,” says Dr. Antoine Alston, CAES associate dean for academic studies.

The University announced this week the names of the 20 Dowdy Scholars, whose endowments are bestowed in honor of the university’s sixth president, the late Dr. Lewis C. Dowdy and his wife, Elizabeth.  Three of those awardees — 15 percent of the total number of recipients —  will study in the CAES. Those incoming scholars to the CAES are:

• Lia Artis of Chester, Va., who will major in food and nutritional science.
• Jaylah Autry of Bayboro, an animal science major.
• Quincey Lee of Holly Hill, S.C., an animal science major.

Shown with an agricultural communications class, Alston says academic excellence is core to the CAES’s mission.

Earlier in the month, the University also announced that another 20 of its most academically talented, incoming freshmen have been awarded the Cheatham-White Scholarship. Four of those scholars, 20 percent, are CAES majors. The 2018 scholars are the inaugural class of the new and prestigious awards, named in honor of Henry P.  Cheatham and George H. White, a former slave and the son of a former slave, respectively.

The Cheatham-White Scholars are:

• Madison Bevan of Greer, S.C. who will major in laboratory animal science.
• Jared Jackson of Baltimore, Md., a landscape architecture major.
• Kiara McKenzie-Perry of Raleigh, whose major is agricultural and environmental systems-environmental studies.
• Mariah Shobande of Pittsboro, majoring in biological engineering.

Hedrick is flanked by Provost Beryl McEwen and CAES Interim Dean Shirley Hymon-Parker

Fashion merchandising major Desiree Hedrick, who graduates May 12, was selected in early April as the 2018 recipient of the Chancellor’s  Award for Academic Excellence. The annual honor recognizes an undergraduate student who demonstrates consistent excellence in academics and leadership. This is the second time in three years that Chancellor Harold L. Martin Sr. has chosen a CAES student for the campus-wide honor.

“This has been a very rewarding season for us,”  Alston added. “Desiree represents the very essence of the CAES in terms of excellence and scholarship and we wish her well as she proceeds in the future. The Dowdy and the Cheatham-White scholars also represent the highest excellence of academic performance at A&T, and we welcome them with great expectations for the years ahead.”