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Scholars get awards at historic venue


Iam Campbell and Louisa Roldan received their Coal Creek Watershed Foundation Scholarships at Militia Hill on May 2, 2020. (photo:COAL CREEK WATERSHED FOUNDATION )
Barry Thacker and Carol Moore of the Coal Creek Watershed Foundation awarded Louisa Roldan and Ian Campbell $10,000 college scholarships on Sunday, May 2, at a very special place.

Thacker and Moore met Roldan and Campbell, and their families at Militia Hill on Fort Anderson where the famous Coal Creek War took place in 1891-1892.

Both scholarship recpients played a part in restoration of the site, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Nantglo Scholarship is offered to graduates of Briceville Elementary School to assist them in attending college or technical school.

The scholarship is named in honor of the Welsh coal miners who settled Coal Creek after the Civil War. Nantglo is Welsh for Coal Creek. The foundation has awarded more than $500,000 in college scholarship assistance to 61 students during the past eight years.

Louisa plans to attend Pellissippi State to study animal science.

Ian plans to attend Tennessee Technological University to study either conservation biology or environmental biology, with the goal of attaining a master’s degree and maybe even a doctorate.

One of the requirements to continue their scholarship each year is that the recipient must visit Briceville School at least once during the school year (usually in December or January) with other scholarship winners and speak to the Briceville students about their experiences in college, and encourage them to study hard, stay in school and get a college education.

The foundation also encourages scholarship recipients to continue their community service efforts in Coal Creek.

To qualify for the $10,000 college scholarship, interested high school seniors who graduated from Briceville School prepare an essay on “Improving the Quality of Life in the Coal Creek Watershed.”