The Savannah River Section of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) awarded two 2021-2022 Benjamin Memorial Scholarships to Central Savannah River Area students at a June 24th dinner meeting at Newberry Hall in Aiken.  The Benjamin Scholarship students for this year are Jayme Still of Barnwell High School in the Technical College Category, and Ekow Aidoo of Augusta Preparatory Day School in the University Category.

Each student received a $2,500 Scholarship Award during a June 24, 2021, dinner meeting of the ANS Savannah River Section at Newberry Hall in Aiken. This was the Savannah River Section’s first in-person dinner meeting since February 2020.

The awards preceded a presentation by Dr. Lindsay Shuller-Nickles, Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences at Clemson University.  Dr. Shuller-Nickles talk was entitled, “Atomic-Scale Journey through the Nuclear Fuel Cycle,” and explored the development of the current inventory of used nuclear materials in the U.S. and considered future changes in the nuclear fuel cycle from a waste management perspective viewing through atomic scale lenses.

The near-term plans of the two Scholarship winners are in keeping with the STEM core areas intended for support through the Benjamin Memorial awards.  In August of this year, Mr. Still will begin his work at Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College in the field of Electrical Instrumentation. At the presentation ceremony, Mr. Still was joined by his parents, Amber and Jason Still, and his sister, Allison.

The University Category Scholarship recipient, Mr. Aidoo, will pursue Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  On the evening of the ANS awards meeting, he had already started a summer session at MIT, and so was represented at the Scholarship ceremony by his parents, Mary Arthur and Daniel Aidoo, and a visiting cousin, Ben Osei-Poku (See Figure 1).  Mr. Ekow Aidoo is shown in Figure 2.

Commendation Award Winners

In addition to the Scholarship awards, four students are being recognized at the runners-up level through Benjamin Commendation awards.  Students receiving the Commendation Award are:

• Alexis Davis (Evans High School) attending the University of Georgia and planning to major in biology;
• Makena Griffis (Fox Creek High School) attending Georgia Southern University and pursuing a STEM major;
• Jasmine Sampson (Aiken High School) attending Clemson University and intending to pursue a math or science major; and
• Anna Summers (Aquinas High School) planning to attend Virginia Tech’s School of Neuroscience.

Scholarship Winners

The Savannah River Section of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) awarded two 2020-2021 Benjamin Memorial Scholarships to Central Savannah River Area students. The Benjamin Scholarship students for 2020 are Nancy Kye of Evans High School and Kendall Leigh of South Aiken High School. Each student received a $2,000 Scholarship Award during a July 23, 2020, virtual presentation ceremony of the ANS Savannah River Section.

The near-term plans of the two Scholarship winners are in keeping with the STEM core areas intended for support through the Benjamin Memorial awards. This August, Ms. Kye will begin her studies in the Honors Program at the Georgia Institute of Technology and plans to major in Biomedical Engineering. Ms. Leigh also plans to major in Biomedical Engineering and will begin her studies at the Honors College at the University of South Carolina.

During the July 22, 2019 meeting of the Savannah River Section of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) two Benjamin Memorial Scholarship awards were awarded to Central Savannah River Area students to help defray college costs for the 2019-2020 academic year of study. The awards are provided in the memory of its long-time member, Dr. Richard (Dick) Benjamin (1925-2013), to students expressing academic and career interests in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, and particularly those wishing to major in a field associated with nuclear science and technology.

The Scholarship winners and their parents were recognized at this meeting held at Newberry Hall in Aiken.

This year’s $2,500 Scholarship winners are Kenny Glaze of Harlem High School and Bryce Hopkins of South Aiken High School.  The near-term plans of the two Scholarship winners are in keeping with the STEM core areas intended for support through the Benjamin Memorial awards.  Mr. Glaze will begin his study in Civil Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Mr. Hopkins will begin his studies in Engineering at Clemson University.

During the July 9, 2018 meeting of the Savannah River Section of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) three Benjamin Memorial Scholarship awards were awarded to Central Savannah River Area students to help defray college costs for the 2018-2019 academic year of study. The awards are provided in the memory of its long-time member, Dr. Richard (Dick) Benjamin (1925-2013), to students expressing academic and career interests in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, and particularly those wishing to major in a field associated with nuclear science and technology.

The Scholarship winners and their parents were recognized at this meeting held at Newberry Hall in Aiken.

This year’s $2,000 Scholarship winners are Natasha Flores of Aiken High School, Kathryn Foral of Evans High School, and Michael Ray of Aiken High School. The near-term plans of the three Scholarship winners are in keeping with the STEM core areas intended for support through the Benjamin Memorial awards.  Ms. Flores will begin her study in Animal Science at Clemson University.  Ms. Foral is beginning study in the School of Public Health at the University of Georgia.  Mr. Ray will begin his studies in Engineering at Clemson University.

During the June 8, 2017 meeting of the Savannah River Section of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) four Benjamin Memorial Scholarship awards were awarded to Central Savannah River Area student to help defray college costs for the 2017-2018 academic year of study. The awards are provided in the memory of its long-time member, Dr. Richard (Dick) Benjamin (1925-2013), to students expressing academic and career interests in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, and particularly those wishing to major in a field associated with nuclear science and technology.

The Scholarship winners and their parents were recognized at this meeting held at Newberry Hall in Aiken. Tracy Stover, Secretary of the Savannah River Section, represented the Section officers and distributed the Scholarship certificates and checks to the students, parents and family members for the students not able to attend in person.

For the first time in the four-year history of the Scholarship, two groups of candidates were considered, technical college and university/college. This year’s $2,000 Scholarship winners are Cassandra Jennings of Aiken Technical College, Jacob Totaro of Harlem High School, Justin Tran of Aquinas High School, and Kyle Xiao of Lakeside High School. The near-term plans of the four Scholarship winners are in keeping with the STEM core areas intended for support through the Benjamin Memorial awards, with Ms. Jennings completing study in the Radiation Protection Technology at Aiken Technical College. Mr. Totaro is beginning study in Environmental Engineering at the University of Southern California, Mr. Tran is beginning his Computer Engineering studies at Georgia Tech, and Mr. Xiao beginning study in Engineering also at Georgia Tech. Scholarship chair Kevin O’Kula said, “While this is the first year that ANS SR has recognized two categories of STEM students, those in the technical college area and those attending four-year colleges and universities, it marks our fourth year of awarding students in Dr. Benjamin’s memory.”

The $2,000 Scholarship winners are Katherine Birdsong of North Augusta (The McFarland School), Daniel Davidson of North Augusta High School, and Xiaoyi Claire Long of Westminster Schools of Augusta, the Scholarship’s first international awardee.  The near-term plans of the three Scholarship winners are in keeping with the core areas intended for support through the Benjamin Memorial awards, with Ms. Birdsong beginning study in Biology at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, Mr. Davidson planning to study Engineering at Clemson University, and Ms. Long planning to study Engineering at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in Worcester, Massachusetts.

The Scholarship winners and their parents were recognized at a Savannah River Section luncheon meeting held July 9, 2016 at Augustino’s Restaurant in Augusta.  Tracy Stover, Secretary of the Section, distributed the Scholarship certificates and payments to the students and to Ms. Long’s host parents, Dana and Paul McElmurray of North Augusta

In addition to the Scholarship awards, runner-up, or Commendation Awards will be awarded to the following Central Savannah River Area graduates:  Zachary Fields (Midland Valley High School) attending USC-Aiken, Hannah McFall (home school) attending the University of Alabama – Huntsville, Caroline Schaade (North Augusta H.S.) attending Mississippi State University, Caroline Spencer (Lakeside H.S.) attending Georgia Southern, and Christopher Spencer (Lakeside H.S.) also attending Georgia Southern.

The Savannah River Section of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) awarded Scholarships to three 2015 graduating Central Savannah River Area high school seniors on Monday evening, June 1, at the Section’s monthly dinner meeting at Newberry Hall in Aiken.   The awards were presented immediately before remarks from Mr. Eugene Grecheck, the Vice President and Chair-Elect of ANS.

The Benjamin Memorial Scholarships are provided in the memory of its long-time member, Dr. Richard (Dick) Benjamin (1924-2013) to students expressing academic and career interests in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and particularly those wishing to major in a field associated with nuclear science and technology. The $1,500 Scholarship winners are Muhammad Ali Rizvi of Aiken High School, David Stoner of South Aiken High School, and Jessica Tran of Davidson Fine Arts School (Augusta).

The near-term plans of the three Scholarship winners are in keeping with the core areas intended for support through the Benjamin Memorial awards, with Mr. Rizvi beginning study in the Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech, Mr. Stoner planning to study Mathematics at Harvard University, and Ms. Tran planning to study Biological Engineering at the University of Georgia. 

After the June 1 dinner meeting, Commendation Awards of $750 were also awarded to Grace Huber of Lakeside High School, Chance Pittman of Aquinas High School (Augusta), and Allison Swiecki of Midland Valley High School (Graniteville).  Ms. Huber plans to attend Georgia Tech and plans to major in biology.  Mr. Pittman will attend the University of Georgia and plans a career in the nuclear field.  Ms. Swiecki will begin study at the University of South Carolina – Aiken in a science discipline.

Three of the four 2014 Benjamin Memorial Scholarship winners are recognized in July 2014 at the local ANS SR section dinner meeting.  Shown are Brandon Bolton and Peyton Tharp of South Aiken High School, Mrs. Sally Benjamin, Eric White of North Augusta High School, and Scholarship Chair, Dr. Mel Buckner