Beckley, WV (WOAY) – West Virginia Treasurer Larry Pack and his wife, Lisa, are donating $1.8 million of their own money to fund a new scholarship program at WVU Tech.
The Packs announced the Golden Scholars program Tuesday afternoon at the WVU Tech Learning Commons, joined by WVU Tech President T. Ramon Stuart.
“Today, with this generous donation from Larry and Lisa Pack, 1.8 million of their own personal funds to help fund our new Golden Scholars program … Our admissions team is going to go out and work with the superintendents of the 13 southern West Virginia counties to identify highly qualified students that either cannot afford to go to college or may not think college is for them,” Stuart said.
Treasurer Pack says the gift will fund the education of 42 students over the next seven years, targeting high-achieving students who otherwise could not afford college.
“They’ll have no debt, no expenses they have to pay,” Pack said. “It’s all about trying to do things to encourage West Virginia students, particularly southern West Virginia students to come to West Virginia Tech, to get a good education, transform their family, transform their future.”
The first Golden Scholar, Evan Martin, a senior at Oak Hill High School, was introduced at the announcement. Stuart says Martin carries a 4.1 GPA and a 1280 SAT, and originally wanted to go into HVAC before earning the scholarship.
“My family, they instilled hard work on me at a very young age,” Martin said. “Like, I’d get home from school when I couldn’t get on my tablet or go outside and play until my homework was done, and those same morals and that drive has just stuck with me … I wanted to go to college when I was younger but as I’ve gotten older, it just seemed more and more out of reach, and it was just like I was finally able to do that and further my education and maybe even have a different life.”
Stuart says the first class of Golden Scholars enrolls in the fall of 2027.
“We’re going to go deep in southern West Virginia, and we’re going to mine our most precious resources which are young minds,” Stuart said. “And with that, we’re going to educate them, we’re going to graduate them, but most importantly, we’re going to elevate them.”
