Into the great new normal

Martin Marietta awards scholarships to 8 top students

How can we talk about this year’s Martin Marietta scholars without focusing, in part, on the COVID-19 pandemic?

These students were planning for final artistic performances, readying for prom and getting psyched to walk across the graduation stage when the virus cut short their high school careers. Now, as they head off to begin college, they’re experiencing virtual orientations and facing class schedules mixed with in-person and online lectures. Most schools are allowing students to return to campus while planning to cease in-person education after the Thanksgiving break, bringing an early end to campus life for the fall semester.

Our scholars – still teenagers – are experiencing this pandemic while making the largest transition of their lives so far. By all accounts, they’re navigating this tumultuous time with impressive fortitude.

Our eight scholarship winners were overachievers before the pandemic and, undeterred, they’re moving on to college intent on continuing their success. They’re attending some great schools and preparing for careers in such fields as medicine, environmental engineering, mechanical engineering, psychology and politics. Martin Marietta is fully supportive of their efforts and wishes them nothing but the best as they step boldly into the future.

This year’s Martin Marietta Scholarship winners are:

• Megan Collins, North Carolina State University
• Wade Dobbs, University of Georgia
• Samuel Gentry, The University of Texas at Tyler
• Jonah Johannes, University of North Dakota
• Nicole Kaminski, Michigan State University
• Avery Koeppen, University of North Carolina Wilmington
• Wyatt Moore, Oklahoma State University
• Madeline Rouze, American University