Sandhills PRIDE, a support network and educational advocacy group dedicated to increasing awareness and acceptance of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ+) community in the Sandhills region, announced the recipients of the 2024 Sandhills PRIDE Scholarship.
The three awardees are high school seniors Tobey Lunceford, who has been awarded a $5,000 two-year scholarship, and Vivian Villa Tapia and Darnell Morgan, who have each been awarded a $2,500 one-year scholarship.
Scholarship applications from graduating seniors in the Sandhills region, including Cumberland, Harnett, Hoke, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, Richmond, and Scotland counties, are welcomed. Selection is based on academic excellence, community service and engagement, and demonstrated advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community and allies.
Tobey attends Richmond Senior High School in Rockingham. He plans to attend Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, OK, majoring in agribusiness and agricultural communications.
Tobey’s passion for agriculture has always been a huge part of his life. He has been inspired by the hard work, dedication, and innovation of the farmers and ranchers who feed and clothe the nation. Tobey has succeeded in showing livestock and has won multiple awards at both the North and South Carolina State Fairs, establishing his name in the agricultural industry. He has also taken a leadership role with positions in local, regional, and state 4-H and in National FAA organizations. He has been an active participant on his school’s yearbook staff, an honoree of the National Beta Club, and a member of the Fellowship of Christian Students, along with numerous other activities.
As Tobey noted in his application, navigating his identity as a gay individual in agriculture has been a journey filled with self-discovery and acceptance, often struggling with the intersection of his identities. Through this process, he found a way to network with people from the agricultural industry and the LGBTQ+ community, taking part in PRIDE events and sharing his experiences. Tobey strives to raise the voice of LGBTQ+ individuals in agriculture and create a more inclusive community for the future. He hopes to be a role model and mentor for other LGBTQ+ individuals who aspire to be involved with agriculture to show that they can achieve anything they set their minds to.
Vivian attends Union Pines High School in Cameron. She plans to attend UNC in Chapel Hill in the fall and is considering studying law and political science.
Like many LGBTQ+ youth, Vivian faced significant bullying in her middle school years, and her own lack of acknowledgment of who she was led to feelings of shame and anxiety. Her first three years of high school were spent virtually due to the pandemic, yet, during that time, a great friendship also sparked something in her that helped her express herself and find “the light she always hoped to see” in herself. When Vivian entered her senior year in-person at Union Pines, she became active as a teacher’s assistant, online tutor, and her teachers report Vivian’s intellectual abilities are second only to the compassion, fairness, and humility she demonstrates daily.
Vivian is dedicated to working toward a more just world by amplifying the needs and challenges of LGBTQ+ and other marginalized communities in order to bring awareness to the unique issues they face and advance equal rights for all. They were chosen for a scholarship to attend the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s (NRECA) Youth Tour, which gave Vivian the opportunity to express their concerns regarding the infringement of LGBTQ+ rights being put forth in recent laws directly to North Carolina legislators.
Darnell will be graduating from North Moore High School in Robbins and plans to attend either UNC Pembroke or East Carolina University in the fall. His areas of study are mechanical engineering and computer engineering and robotics.
When Darnell first arrived at North Moore, he knew no one, but listening and making himself available to friends is an important part of his character; he soon found a group of supportive LGBTQ+ students who encouraged him to join theater classes, and he found the place where he could be himself. In addition to being on the honor roll and a member of the National Society for High School Scholars, Darnell is a leader in North Moore’s theater program’s technical department and has managed student production crews, created sets, and managed lighting for the school’s award-winning productions.
Darnell faced life situations that forced him to grow up quickly, but rather than allow his circumstances to control his future, he chose to focus on kindness and positivity and learned how important it is to have caring friends when family support is lacking. Darnell takes initiative and his desire to create a safer space for his LGBTQ+ friends led him to help plan and participate in a proactively positive silent gathering where he and other students wrote letters to the local school board expressing their concerns about the board’s policies toward LGBTQ+ students.
The Sandhills PRIDE Scholarship Reception is a fundraiser for the scholarship and other programs that provide advocacy, events, and activities designed to broaden support and acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community and allies in the Sandhills region. Tickets for the reception are $50 and can be purchased through the link below.
For tickets and information: https://sandhillspride.salsalabs.org/2024sandhillspridescholarshipreception
For information about supporting the scholarship program, [email protected]
Feature photo: Darnell Morgan (left), Tobey Lunceford and Vivian Villa Tapia.
Contributed/Courtesy photo.
