Chesapeake Students Earn Scholarships

AFCEA Central Maryland presented scholarships to students statewide in May, and three winners came from Chesapeake High School. Here are the local winners:

Kailey Schissler, winner of the Kathleen Berganski Women of Cyber $10,000 Scholarship

This scholarship is in memory of Kathleen Berganski, an AFCEA Central Maryland Chapter leader who lost her life suddenly in February 2020. She was an active AFCEAn at the local Central Maryland Chapter level and at the international level. She spent over 30 years in the Defense Industrial Base, providing program management and business development support for major corporations. She made a major mark on her community both in industry and in government.

The scholarship is awarded to a female high school senior who plans to pursue a four-year degree program with a cyber security, information assurance, or related major or concentration such as, but not limited to, network security, information technology, computer science, applied cryptography, secure software engineering, malware analysis, cybercrime, or computer or electrical engineering.

Andrew Lentz, winner of the Freedom $10,000 Scholarship

This scholarship is awarded to graduating high school students who have overcome an adversity or hardship in their personal or family life, and because of this adversity or hardship, may not have been able to perform up to their full potential in high school. The Freedom Scholarship will aid them in accomplishing their goals in higher education. Recipients are expected to pursue an academic course of college study in STEM that could lead to a work career supporting national defense objectives.

Rebecca Parker, winner of the Captain John and Angie Skinner Merit $10,000 Scholarship

This scholarship is named for Captain John Skinner and Angie Skinner. They were an important part of the AFCEA family. Through Captain Skinner’s leadership in the early days of the chapter, AFCEA Central Maryland established scholarships to be awarded to students pursuing a college education. It is awarded to graduating high school seniors planning to enter a science or engineering field of study supportive of the military, defense, or intelligence community. Example of fields of study include engineering, telecommunications, computer science, mathematics, information assurance, or intelligence analysis.