Fuller Family Scholarship to Help Trade Students
Posing for the presentation of a symbolic $5,000 check toward the $10,000 Grace and Rich Fuller Family Scholarship for the Trades are CSM Director of Development Chelsea Brown, CSM President Dr. Maureen Murphy, Grace Fuller, CSM Vice President of Continuing Education and Workforce Development Dr. Dan Mosser, Rich Fuller, CSM Executive Director of Workforce Development Kelly Winters, and CSM Director of the Center for Trades and Energy Training Bruce Posey.
Students who are working toward careers in the trades are getting an extra boost at the College of Southern Maryland through the Grace and Rich Fuller Family Scholarship.
Two St. Mary’s County families have joined efforts to provide $10,000 to the CSM Foundation, establishing the Grace and Rich Fuller Family Scholarship for the Trades. The scholarship, a gift from Richard and Grace Fuller and James and Yachiyo Wallace, both families from Lexington Park, will offer financial help for tuition, fees, books, and other related supplies to St. Mary’s County residents who are enrolled in a skilled trades program.
“The Fuller and Wallace families’ gift is an amazing display of generosity,” said CSM President Dr. Maureen Murphy in a press release about the scholarship. “This scholarship will change lives. We are deeply touched and honored by their heartfelt donation.”
“We were taught to do what we can do to help the next generation,” said Grace Fuller during a recent tour of the college’s Regional Hughesville Campus, Center for Trades and Energy Training. “America is so full of opportunity and we are grateful we can do our little part to help students in need.”
The Fuller family moved to St. Mary’s County more than 30 years ago as part of Rich’s Navy career and raised two sons in Southern Maryland. After Rich retired from the Navy, the Fullers became part owners in the Port of Leonardtown Winery, and spend a good deal of their time volunteering in the community.
“We have seen some people who have no hope,” Grace said of the people she helps at the soup kitchen, where the couple volunteers. “And that is what we want to give people in our community who have fallen on hard times: We want to give them hope. Skilled trades are an honorable, needed, and honest profession.”
When the Fullers decided to create the scholarship, Grace said, their neighbors James and Yachiyo Wallace wanted to help by matching the funds. “We are grateful to them,” she said of the Wallaces. “They are wonderful friends.”
To be eligible for the scholarship, a student must be a resident of St. Mary’s County; earn a high school diploma or its equivalent; demonstrate financial need; and be enrolled in a skilled trades program at CSM. Applicants must submit an essay describing any hardships or obstacles they have faced and how the scholarship can help them achieve their goals. In addition, the scholarship recipient will be required to write a thank you note explaining the importance of this scholarship toward his or her educational goals.
The Fullers said they hope students who receive this scholarship will become mentors to those who follow them into the trades and that they will someday pay it forward by contributing support to the Grace and Rich Fuller Family Scholarship for the Trades.
About CSM Foundation
The CSM Foundation is the nonprofit charitable organization and fundraising arm of the College of Southern Maryland. Comprised of an all-volunteer board of directors, the CSM Foundation creates relationships to benefit the college and raises funds to support students and college initiatives, promoting scholarships, programs, technology, professional development, and special projects.
For more about the College of Southern Maryland, visit its Leader member page.
