Springfield Garden Club announces 2024 scholarship winners

From left, Springfield Garden Club membership chair Cheryl Pierce, Secretary Carol Eramo, awardees Abbigale Williams and Jacob Stockman, President Therese Burton and Treasurer Barbara Riotte. Photo by Sandy Peplau

• Abbigale Williams of Andover is the recipient of the 2024 Springfield Garden Club Scholarship. She is a graduate of Green Mountain Union High  School and will be majoring in Criminal Justice at Elmira College in Elmira, N.Y. However, it was her minor, Environmental Science, that caught the attention of the Garden Club. “I want to help people as well as my environment thrive among each other. I want to keep everyone safe and help people use and respect the earth as they should,” says Williams. The Scholarship Committee will present the college with $1,000 for each semester of her freshman year.
• Jacob Stockman, a graduate of Bellows Falls Union High School and a student at River Valley Technical Center, will receive the 2024 Sandy MacGillivray.  This $1,000 scholarship is given to a Tech Center student each year in remembrance of Sandy MacGillivray, a former teacher, Springfield Garden Club member and outstanding citizen of Springfield. MacGillivray taught business courses at the Tech Center and at Springfield High School for many years. She loved to work with students and enjoyed encouraging and guiding them to live productive lives. Stockman plans to major in Elementary Education at Vermont State University in Lyndon. “I am extremely excited to have the opportunity to pursue education. I have wanted to become a teacher since the 6th grade,” he says.

Garden Club Treasurer Barbara Riotte says, “We look forward to seeing them achieve their dreams and we are happy to be able to support the efforts of Abbigale and Jacob.”