The Enterprise Wireless Alliance (EWA) is pleased to announce that Amanda Palmer, a student at Old Dominion University (ODU), will receive the EWA-Joseph B. Vestal Endowed Scholarship, which awards financial aid to a full-time student at ODU enrolled in Electrical Engineering Technology or Information Systems Management who intends to pursue a professional career in wireless applications or telecommunications.
Ms. Palmer is a first-generation college student who grew up in rural West Virginia. Her life experience has taught her the important role that technology plays in education. This experience has shaped her goals for not only her degree program but also her career. Growing up with limited access to technology, Ms. Palmer is pursuing a degree in Electrical-Mechanical Engineering Technology in order to improve opportunities to communicate around the world, even for areas as remote as the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Of her career goals, Ms. Palmer says, “I plan on helping expand the possibilities that are available to make it easier to communicate in Southwest Virginia and West Virginia, working with local technology companies to improve technology access and internet options available to rural communities. This would help to improve lives in my community by opening more educational and job opportunities, better communication and more access to online marketplaces and technologies.”
On reviewing the candidates, Joseph Vestal, the ODU alumni after whom the scholarship is named, commented, “Many wonderful candidates applied, and each are worthy, but we can award only one scholarship. We selected a student that represents three of my priorities. Ms. Palmer has a focus on wireless communications, has roots in a rural community, and is a female, of which our industry needs more.”
Scholarship funds are raised through individual and corporate donations as well as through a silent auction held each year at the Wireless Leadership Summit, a conference for leaders of the private wireless industry. In 2019, the industry donated $10,000 to the scholarship. Learn more about the scholarship at EWA’s website.
