Lewis awarded first Story Technical/Trade Scholarship

A recent graduate of Perquimans County High School is the first-ever recipient of a new scholarship named for a PCHS graduate who died tragically in an ATV accident last year.

Shavoris Lewis Jr. was recently presented with the $500 Thomas Paul Story Technical/Trade Scholarship. He plans to attend Shelton State Community College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where he will study electrical technology at the Nucor Technical Academy.

The Story scholarship, which is sponsored by Story’s family, honors the 2017 Perquimans High School graduate who was working at Norfolk Naval Shipyard when he died in 2023. According to a press release from the Perquimans County Schools Foundation, Story loved the outdoors, hunting, fishing, riding and being on boats with family and friends.

Once the Story scholarship was established, funding for it poured in from Story’s family, friends and the community, quickly endowing the fund, the foundation said.

Foundation President Carson Stallings said the account for the Story scholarship is established at Southern Bank and is being managed by the foundation. Anyone wishing to make a contribution to the account can send it to the Perquimans County Schools Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 337, Hertford, NC 27944. Be sure to earmark it “Thomas Paul Story,” Stallings said.

“By endowing this fund, students at Perquimans County High School will be given an opportunity every year (forever) to apply for this scholarship in memory of Thomas,” Stallings said. “The scholarship specifically supports technical/trade opportunities as he (Story) was a well-respected welder at” the shipyard.