The awards span multiple scholarship funds and institutions, illustrating how locally administered trusts can provide substantial support as students prepare for higher education.
Potomac Bank Trust and Wealth has awarded $278,800 in college scholarships to high school students in the communities it serves, distributing funding through seven separate scholarship programs. As trustee for the funds, the Potomac Bank division is administering awards that range from modest one-time grants to multiyear scholarships worth tens of thousands of dollars, giving recipients varying levels of support as they enter college.
The largest individual awards come from the Robert W. McCormick Scholarship, with Jefferson High School student Sayumi S. Rambukkanage and Washington High School student Scarlett E. Stone each receiving $80,000. Rambukkanage plans to attend Shepherd University, while Stone will attend West Virginia University. Another significant program, the S. Katherine Boxwell & Edwin P. Churchill Scholarship, is providing a combined $88,000 to four students attending institutions including Shepherd University, West Virginia University, Potomac State College and Savannah College of Art and Design.
Other awards spread smaller amounts across a wider group of students. Annika Feagans of Jefferson High School received the Robert “Bob” F. Baronner Jr. Scholarship, worth $10,000 over four years, while Addison Cosper received a one-time $10,000 Thelma A. Pearl Scholarship. Additional funding was distributed through scholarships supporting music education and students attending institutions ranging from Blue Ridge Community and Technical College to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The collection of awards demonstrates the different roles scholarship trusts can play in financing higher education. Some provide sustained assistance across four years, while others offer smaller contributions toward the immediate costs of beginning college. The Baronner scholarship alone, established in memory of a former president of the Bank of Charles Town, has now distributed $90,000 to local students seeking higher education.
For Potomac Bank, which operated as Bank of Charles Town until its 2025 name change, administering the scholarships also connects its financial services business with longstanding community institutions. The recipients represent several high schools across West Virginia and plan to attend a broad mix of public, private and technical institutions. At a time when families must account for tuition alongside housing, books and other college expenses, locally managed scholarship funds can serve as one piece of a much larger financing picture.
