The Community Foundation of the New River Valley Annual Report 2024-2025

New Fund Name Reflects Parents’ Legacy After June Liang Wang, a Blacksburg High School (BHS) teacher, passed away suddenly in 1999, her husband, Joe, and their four children set up a scholarship to benefit BHS students. In 2013, they transferred the management of that scholarship to the CFNRV. Since then, 20 students have received scholarships from the family’s fund, totaling more than $30,000. The fund aims to award scholarships to students who share values that were important to June: scholastic achievement, community involvement, leadership, and global awareness. After Joe passed in 2024, the Wang family asked to update the fund’s name to include their father’s name as well. Now, the fund is called the June and Joseph Wang Memorial Scholarship Fund. To honor the lasting impact of their parents, the Wang family is proud to continue their support of students who, like June and Joe, are driven by curiosity and a love of learning.

Scholarship Recipients Set up Fund When Billie and Jessie Quesenberry were in college, they each received a scholarship from the CFNRV. Billie said receiving these scholarships “felt like both a victory and relief for the whole family”. None of us realized that we would later hear from their family to set up their own scholarship fund. Along with their mother, Joni, the three established the Blue Collar Scholarship Fund in 2022. The fund is in memory of Kent, Joni’s husband and father to Jessie and Billie. “Starting the Blue Collar Scholarship is a continuation of our family’s collaboration while we were applying for scholarships ourselves,” said Jessie. “Now, we get to do the ‘fun’ scholarship work like brainstorming fundraiser ideas or raising awareness about our scholarship.” Scholarships at the CFNRV are fully endowed at $15,000 but can be started with founding gifts of any amount. The Quesenberrys seeded their fund with a

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The Blue Crew: Billie and Joni Quesenberry and Jessie Turpin.

Photos by Wilsie Photography.