News

Inaugural Conklin Scholarship Awarded to Displaced Worker

(Released 3/24/2011)

JAMESTOWN - Robert A. Benson of Archdale is the inaugural recipient of the Charles "Mickey" Conklin Memorial Endowed Scholarship at Guilford Technical Community College.

Benson, who will graduate May 12 as a pre-major engineering student, received the $1,400 scholarship established by the Conklin family to honor Charles Conklin.

Conklin, a former board member of the GTCC Foundation, passed away on Feb. 24, 2006.

Conklin had retired from Wrangler after 30 years of service. He also had worked for Health Careers of North Carolina for six years. He was a graduate of East Carolina University.

Benson said he enrolled at GTCC to gain the education necessary to get a job after being a victim of downsizing at the company where he had worked. "Two years ago, the company for which I had worked had to reduce the size of the workforce and I lost my job. I was an engineer, but I had no formal education," he said.

"The company had taught me everything I needed to know and I had been doing the job for 10 years. I tried unsuccessfully to find a job for over a year," Benson said.

Benson, who is married and has four children, hopes to enroll at NC A&T University in the fall and begin working toward a bachelor's degree in computer engineering.

"Without this scholarship I would have had a very difficult time finishing school at GTCC," Benson said.

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