Pocahontas CVB Accepting Applications – Tourism Scholarship & Tourism Person of the Year

The Pocahontas County Convention and Visitors Bureau is offering tourism scholarships to graduating seniors at Pocahontas County High School. Cara Rose, the Bureau’s Executive Director explains.

“The Pocahontas County Convention and visitors Bureau does sponsor the Tourism Scholarship annually for a graduating senior at Pocahontas County High School” said Rose. “This is a scholarship for one thousand dollars annually for up to four years for a student who is furthering their education in a tourism related field. So it could be somebody who is going into Culinary; somebody going into Recreation; somebody who is in a hospitality program for instance. There are a wide range of fields that people can go into which would meet the criteria as a tourism career.  The scholarship is one thousand dollars annually from the CVB, however the Snowshoe Foundation is once again matching this scholarship with a thousand dollars for a 2019 recipient, which means the scholarship will be two thousand dollars annually for up to four years to the recipient. So, encourage our seniors who are thinking about tourism and potential careers in hospitality, to apply for the scholarship. The scholarship applications are due April 1^st. They can pick these applications up at the Guidance Counselor’s Office, or they can call me and I will send one to them; email it to them; or they can pick up the application from the office here at Marlinton.”

Cara, what criteria are used to select the recipient of this scholarship?

“ We have a panel of individuals made up of (CVB) Board Members, as well as community members, and they evaluate the applicants on a few criteria” Rose said. “Number one, you do have to be a resident of Pocahontas County – obviously you have to be a graduate of Pocahontas County High School.  And they submit an essay about tourism and how it benefits Pocahontas County and why they are interested in going into the tourism field. They also must have recommendations from educators and they must have a personal reference submitted along with that. So the panel will evaluate all the applicants based on that information, and determine who is going to best represent the scholarship. Grades matter as well. Not only do they need to have a C average, but we ask them to maintain that average even in their college years. They have to submit those to us by semester in college. They also have to stay in the field that they submitted their original application for. However, if they change fields midway through college, and if it is still a tourism related field, all they have to do is notify us. If they make a complete switch, and go out of the tourism related field to something else. Lets say they want to become a Pharmacist or a Dental Hygienist, something like that, then they need to notify us, and unfortunately they will lose the scholarship. We haven’t had that happen very often, we’ve had some really great recipients who have gone on to finish their four years of education and gone into the career.”

Can you tell us about the Pocahontas County Tourism Person of the Year Award?

“Nominations are open right now for Tourism Person of the Year Award in Pocahontas County” answered rose. “This is an award we bestow upon an individual or group who has contributed significantly to the hospitality industry in Pocahontas County. Individuals can be nominated by anybody in the County, and they are due on April 1^st as well. They will be reviewed by a panel and announced at the Annual Tourism Partner Luncheon –May 8^th this year.”