Board of Supervisors awards 2025 Lead Through Service Scholarship to Carter Smith
The Board of Supervisors and County Administrators Personally Give $3,000.00 Scholarship to a Graduating Pulaski County Senior to Foster the Development of Future Local Leaders
The Pulaski County Board of Supervisors, the County Administrator and Assistant County Administrator, along with the help of a few other committed local government leaders, continue to fulfil their vision of fostering local leadership development and bolstering service to the community through personal sponsorship of their Lead Through Service Scholarship. This year, the Lead Through Service Scholarship Committee selected Mr. Carter Smith as their 2025 recipient.
“It remains a personal goal to personally invest in developing our next generation of local leaders and nurture a mindset in our youth of continued service to their community,” stated Jonathan D. Sweet, County Administrator. “The continued success of our County depends on cultivating future local leaders that will one day be equipped to serve Pulaski County as our business leaders, our nurses, our teachers, our first responders, our entrepreneurs and our community’s volunteers.”
The competitive and most prestigious local scholarship in the New River Valley, is awarded to a graduating Pulaski County High School student who demonstrates leadership through serving their community and plans to continue to contribute to the community upon the completion of their formal education. The annual scholarship(s) have ranged in the past from $2,500.00 all the way up to $10,000.00, and can be utilized for any two-year or four-year institution or technical degree program.
“I am always honored to contribute to this annual scholarship alongside the County Administrator and fellow Board of Supervisors, and more importantly, to be making an important investment in our County’s future leadership,” stated Laura Walters, Chair, Pulaski County Board of Supervisors. “This is just one of the many approaches we are taking to help raise up future local leaders and instill in them a deeper appreciation and value of service to their community. We all should be a part of helping develop future public servants and leaders, by encouraging them to volunteer, offer them opportunities to serve their community, and by investing in them through education, activities and support.”
The annual competitive scholarship is funded personally by each individual member of the Board of Supervisors as well as the County Administrator, Assistant County Administrator and a few local government leaders and County staff who share in the important vision of local leadership development. There are NO taxpayer’s monies involved with this scholarship and personal contributions are entirely voluntary. The members of the Board of Supervisors are as follows: Laura Walters, Chair; Dirk Compton, Vice Chair; Jeff Reeves, Chris Stafford and Mike Mooney. The County Administrator is Jonathan D. Sweet and the Assistant County Administrator is Anthony Akers.
Previous Lead Through Service Scholarship recipients are Ms. Breanna Lytton – 2019, Ms. Jaelyn Szerokman
– 2020, Ms. Alex Turner and Ms. Ashlyn Kirtner – 2021, Ms. Gwendolyn Puckett – 2022, Ms. Tori Vest and Ms. Kaitlin Ervine – 2023, and Ms. Clara Worley – 2024. The Scholarship has provided more than
$26,500.00 in awards to graduating seniors of Pulaski County High School since its inception in 2019.