J. Allen Kagey Memorial Endowed Scholarship

The J. Allen Kagey Memorial Endowed Scholarship was established in 2014 by the Kagey family in loving memory and tribute to Allen Kagey. Mr. Kagey’s daughter, Kathy Ware, is a professor of Health Information Management and Natural Science at the College. Mr. Kagey was born and raised on a farm in Shenandoah County. He learned the value of persistence and hard work while growing up on that farm. In 1956, he left Shenandoah County for Lenoir-Rhyne College (now University) to study Sociology. He worked two jobs at the same time to pay for college and finished his degree in four years. Even though he came from a long line of educators, he was not interested in going into education. Mr. Kagey returned to the Shenandoah County to work, but quickly discovered Sociology was not going to give him the career he wanted. In 1961, he began teaching civics and geography at Stonewall Jackson High School. Shortly thereafter, he obtained a Master’s degree in Education from Madison College (now James Madison University). Mr. Kagey served the Shenandoah County Public School system for 38 years, starting as a high school teacher, to a guidance counselor, to assistant principal to principal. He spent time in all three of the high schools and many of the middle schools (Woodstock Middle, New Market Middle, Strasburg Middle, Signal Knob Middle and finally, North Fork Middle). Mr. Kagey valued hard work, spending many hours at the schools, making sure each was in proper order, and helping everyone from the custodian to a teacher. He cared greatly for his students and wanted to see each succeed, whether they were going on to college or going into a trade. Education and his students were his passions.

The scholarship may be applied toward tuition, fees and/or books and will be divided equally between the fall and spring semesters. Satisfactory academic progress of a 3.0 GPA must be maintained in the fall semester in order for the recipient to receive the spring semester award.

The scholarship will be awarded to students who meet the following criteria:

• Must complete a scholarship application. Applicants are also strongly encouraged to complete the federal student aid application (FAFSA)
• Must be a full-time or part-time student
• Must be a resident of Shenandoah County
• Must be a current-year high school graduate from Strasburg, Central, or Stonewall Jackson High School
• Must demonstrate academic merit by having and maintaining at least a 2.5 cumulative GPA
• Complete a 250-word essay to answer the following question: “Please share how you have overcome an obstacle and turned it into a success.”