Three Wayne Community College students are the first recipients of a new engineering scholarship.

Alexis Ferro of Mount Olive, Ashley Sutton of Snow Hill, and Charles Tutor of Seven Springs, all working toward associate degrees in engineering, were awarded “PIRATES” scholarships.

The funds for the scholarship are from the Providing Inclusive Residential and Transfer Experience Scholarships (PIRATES) in Engineering program at East Carolina University. It provides $3,000 annual scholarships for low-income students enrolled in WCC’s Associate in Engineering program who plan to transfer into an engineering degree program at ECU.

If the recipients transfer into ECU’s College of Engineering and Technology, their scholarships could continue at up to $10,000 per year for two more years.

The program was made possible by a $4 million grant to East Carolina University’s College of Engineering and Technology from the National Science Foundation Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Program (S-STEM).

“As part of this grant, Wayne Community College can award up to five scholarships for each of the next two academic years,” said WCC Arts and Sciences Division Dean Brandon Jenkins.

Two $1,500 scholarships are available for Spring 2021 for students majoring in engineering at WCC who have unmet financial need, he said.

The application can be found at https://bit.ly/PIRATES-application. The deadline to apply is Oct. 29, 2020.

For more information on the PIRATES in Engineering Scholarship or WCC’s Associate in Engineering degree program, contact the College Transfer Advising Center at [email protected].