BUCKHANNON, W.Va. — Rising Ripley High School senior Easton Perry is celebrating his academic achievement of receiving a full ride to West Virginia Wesleyan.
“I’m just blown away. I’m just really grateful for the opportunity that’s been given to me to attend college,” Perry told MetroNews after finding out Thursday that he had been named the winner of the West Virginia Scholar program. “It’s a huge relief on me and my family. They (my parents) already have one kid in college and it’s really, really, really relieving that this has been taken care of for me.”
Perry, 16, was of 10 finalists for the 11th annual Scholar program. They were all at Wesleyan Thursday for a luncheon.
Perry’s full-ride is worth an estimated $160,000. He wants to use physical therapy to help those who suffer from the opioid epidemic.
“Things such as massage, acupuncture stuff like that,” he said.
He wants to one day work for a professional sports team.
Other finalists received scholarship money at Thursday’s luncheon including first runner-up Lydia Knutsen of John Marshall High School and second runner-up Cole Kleppner of Musselman High School.
The West Virginia Scholar program is a partnership between MetroNews and West Virginia Wesleyan. Other sponsors include West Virginia Hospital Association, ZMM Architects, Friends of Coal, West Virginia Forestry Association, Architectural Interior Products, INC, RBC Wealth Management, West Virginia Farm Bureau and KOMAX Business Systems.