Cape Fear Community College recently received three gifts to benefit student scholarships.

Wilmington Contractors Association (WCA) presented $3,000 to the college to benefit the Wallace and Virginia West Endowed Scholarship fund and the Thurman Watts Book Scholarship, the college announced in a news release.

Alana Dos Santos, Landon Ray, Jason Eaton, Susan Martin and Christopher Hatfield are the five CFCC student recipients of the scholarship funds.

The West scholarship, established in 1999, honors two longtime administrators of the Wilmington Contractors Association, one of the oldest trade associations in North Carolina, the release stated. WCA also supports the Thurman Watts Book Scholarship. This scholarship honors Thurman Watts, who worked for 29 years with John S. Clark Company LLC and served as a former president of the WCA. It was established to recognize Watts’ contributions to his profession and his community.

The WCA has provided $126,796 in scholarship support to CFCC students since 1999, according to the release.

A second gift, from the Wilmington Art Association, will fund two $500 scholarships for students who are taking art classes, according to a news release. The recipients must be interested in pursuing art as a career and have at least a 3.0 GPA.

"The Wilmington Art Association is pleased to support young artists in the area so that they may pursue their career goals and focus on their craft,” Liz Hosier, co-president of the association, said in the release. “Art supplies can be expensive, so it is especially important to us to support those who are not able to afford materials."

The Wilmington Art Association created its CFCC scholarship in 2011, the release stated.

The third scholarship gift, in the amount of $1,000, comes from the Hampstead Garden Club. Each year, the club awards a scholarship to one exceptional student who has completed the first year of landscape gardening courses, obtained a GPA of 3.0 or higher, and has a need for financial assistance, according to a news release.

This year’s recipient is Jeffrey Marshall from Currie, who “is applying the knowledge and skills he has learned in the program to use in his own landscaping and lawn care business,” the release stated. “Marshall is a veteran who previously worked in the manufacturing industry for many years, and enjoys having the opportunity to own his own business.” 

The club has provided more than $24,000 in scholarship funds to CFCC since 1997, according to the release.