Board of Supervisors awards prestigious 2026 Lead Through Service Scholarship to Carlie Hamblin
The Board of Supervisors and County Administrators Personally Give $5,000.00 Scholarship to a Graduating Pulaski County Senior to Foster the Development of Future Local Leaders
(Pulaski, Virginia) June 22, 2026 – The Pulaski County Board of Supervisors, the County Administrator and Assistant County Administrator, along with the help of 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 Ms. Carlie Hamblin as their 2026 scholarship 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 committed service to their community,” stated Jonathan D. Sweet, County Administrator. “The continued success of Pulaski County depends on cultivating future leaders that will one day serve our community as our local business leaders, our teachers, our nurses, our first responders, our entrepreneurs and our needed 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 delighted to contribute to this prestigious scholarship alongside our County Administrators and fellow Board of Supervisors, and more importantly, to be making a meaningful investment in our County’s future leadership,” stated Laura Walters, Chair, Pulaski County Board of Supervisors. “This is one of my favorite ways we are investing in the leadership development of our young citizens, and we trust it will help instill in them a deeper appreciation and value of serving their community. We all should take part in developing our future public servants and local leaders, primarily by being good examples of volunteerism, offering them opportunities to serve their community, and by directly investing in them.”
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 other local government leaders who share in the important vision of local leadership development. There are NO taxpayers’ 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, Ms. Clara Worley – 2024, and Mr. Carter Smith – 2025.
The Scholarship has provided more than $31,500.00 in awards to graduating seniors of Pulaski County High School since its inception in 2019.