Parker Johns, a senior at Sequim High School, is one of three high-performing Career and Technical Education students from each of the state’s legislative districts (142 winners in all) to be awarded two years of free tuition at a Washington public or private school of their choice.
The Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board announced last month the winners of the 2008 Washington Award for Vocational Excellence scholarship grants. Established by the Legislature in 1984, WAVE awards pay undergraduate educational tuition for two years (six quarters or four semesters) at an accredited public or private college or university or licensed private vocational school. Students are reimbursed up to the amount of the highest tuition charged by a public university in the state.
Johns is continuing his education in construction management with his WAVE scholarship. His Future Builders instructor Dave Peterson assisted in the nominating process that earned Johns his award.
Future Builders is a program that was created by The North Peninsula Building Association several years ago and provides classroom and hands on experience of building a home from the ground up. NPBA and the Future Builders Program partner with Peninsula College, Port Angeles High School, Sequim High School and the North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center to create needed job skills in the building trades.
Johns traveled to South Kitsap High School on May 22 to receive his WAVE scholarship from District 24 Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim, and Eleni Papadakis, executive director of the Washington Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board.
Van De Wege’s wife Jennifer, a teacher at Sequim High School, has been Johns’ student advisor for several years.
The WAVE is a highly competitive award, seeing more than three times as many applications as available awards. A committee representing business, labor, education and government, along with interested citizens, reviews each application. To be eligible, students must have completed either a high school or college career and technical education course of study.
“These students stand out among their peers,” Papadakis said. “They’ve worked hard, excelled academically and broadened their economic horizons by pursuing and mastering career and technical education.”
For more information on the WAVE Scholarship Program, see www.wtb.wa.gov/WAVEWeb pagenew.asp. For a list of winners by legislative district, see www.wtb.wa.gov/Doc uments/Name-School-Program
DirectoryforWebFINAL.pdf.
