Educator’s children endow VGCC Scholarship in her honor
The two children of Anne Cooke Finch of Wake Forest recently presented contributions to the Vance-Granville Community College Endowment Fund that will create a new scholarship in honor of their mother.
Finch is a longtime teacher assistant in the Wake County Public School System, primarily working with children with disabilities. She worked for many years at Wake Forest-Rolesville High School and currently works at William G. Enloe High School in Raleigh. Finch is also an active member of Glen Royal Baptist Church in Wake Forest.
“Our mother has always been one to give unconditionally and to help others, especially young people, while never seeking recognition for herself,” said Jo Anna Jones, Finch’s daughter and the vice president of institutional advancement and Endowment director for VGCC. She endowed the scholarship along with her brother, Stuart Finch of Youngsville, a longtime United Parcel Service (UPS) employee. “We feel privileged to be able to publicly honor her in this way, because she is such a wonderful mother, grandmother and educator,” Stuart Finch and Jo Anna Jones said. The siblings surprised their mother with news that the scholarship was being established at a meeting of the Endowment Fund Board of Directors on Sept. 29.
“This is so meaningful to me not only because I know how important education is, but also because through Jo Anna, I have come to have great respect and affection for Vance-Granville, for President Parker and his wife, Lou Ann,” Mrs. Finch said. “I have been blessed to have the two best children in the world, and I am very proud of both Stuart and Jo Anna. Family is important to us, and Jo Anna’s VGCC family is important to her, and now, I feel like I’m part of both.”
The Anne Cooke Finch Academic Achievement Scholarship will join more than 300 endowed scholarships for full-time students at the college. VGCC has awarded more than 6,000 scholarships since 1982, and the Endowment Fund awards more endowed scholarships than any other program of its kind in North Carolina. Tax-deductible donations to the VGCC Endowment Fund have often been used to honor or remember a person, group, business or industry with a lasting gift to education.
Above: From left, VGCC Endowment Fund board vice-chair Robert Hubbard, VGCC President Randy Parker, Anne Cooke Finch, her son, Stuart Finch, and her daughter, Jo Anna Finch Jones, the vice president of institutional advancement and Endowment director for the college. (VGCC Photo)
