Encova Foundation awards $38,000 in scholarships to WVSOM students

LEWISBURG, WV (LOOTPRESS) – The Encova Foundation has awarded $38,000 total in scholarships to twelve West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine students for the 2024-2025 year.

Awarded as part of an August 23rd luncheon event celebrating their selection, the scholarships in question ranged in value from $2,000 to $8,000. The awards have contributed to the overall contribution of the Encova Foundation to WVSOM students, which totals at $1,069,000 for ninety-six students.

Funded by an endowment created at the school in 2016 by the Encova Foundation, these scholarship contributions entail a portion of $1,540,000 of total contributions to the school made by the foundation. This makes the foundation the largest scholarship donor for the WVSOM Foundation and the largest private corporate donor as well.

West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine Class of 2027 student, Leya Givviness remarked that the scholarship award would assist in maintaining focus on the work itself and her aspirations to become a physician rather than on determining how realistically to fund her educational endeavors.

“These funds couldn’t have come at a better time,” said Givvines. “I’m paying my own way through medical school while being a work-study student in one of WVSOM’s research labs and babysitting on the side, so having some of the financial burden taken off me allows me to focus more on my studies.”

Class of 2028 West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine student, Morgan Christian also commented on the assistance, stating, “I’m thankful to donors like Encova who believe in me and the next generation of physicians from West Virginai. Becoming a physician has always been my dream, and now I’m one step closer with this scholarship.”

Other Encova Foundation scholarship recipients for the 2024-2025 academic year include Patrick Farry, Abigail Effingham, Guinevere Johnson, Jacqueline Cole, Autumn Horner, Barbara Pridemore, Nivetha Pushpanathan, Emma Beatty, Vyshnavi Pendala, and Evan Ballard.

Senior Human Resources Business Partner with Encova, Shelby Paxton stated that the company places an emphasis on providing assistance to in-training physicians for achieving their goals.

“Encova has always valued giving back to our community and supporting WVSOM’s mission of preparing students to serve rural areas in West Virginia and surrounding states,” Paxton says. “Year after year, I’ve been proud to visit the school to present students their awards. We know that educating young physicians is essential to the future of our region.”