Meet the 2025 Recipients
COASTAL VIRGINIA BUILDING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION
AWARDS ACADEMIC, DESIGN SCHOLARSHIPS
Four local high school students were awarded a total of $40,000 from the Coastal Virginia Building Industry Association Scholarship Foundation during its annual academic awards program.
A committee of association members reviewed applications recently, looking at each student’s academic performance, community service activities and financial need. The 2025 recipients are listed below and each have received a $10,000 four-year scholarship:
- Riley Brown of Ocean Lakes High School in Virginia Beach, plans to major in Environmental Resource Management at Virginia Tech.
- Ian Lindo of Norcom High School in Portsmouth, intends to major in Civil Engineering at North Carolina A&T State University.
- Jeresiah Ray of York River Academy in Yorktown, will pursue a 2-year associates degree in Biology at Virginia Peninsula Community College before transferring.
- Liz Ruisanchez Melendez of First Colonial High School in Virginia Beach, plans to major in Psychology at Christopher Newport University.
The 2025 Young Designers’ Scholarship Competition, a program for high school students interested in drafting, architecture or home building, awarded four scholarships this year. Hayden Reynolds of the Advanced Technology Center in Virginia Beach received the first-place $1,500 award. Andersen Kronauge of Advanced Technology Center in Virginia Beach received the second-place, $1,200 award. Evan Alberti of Kempsville High School in Virginia Beach received the third-place, $800 award and Benjamin Collins of the Advanced Technology Center received the Honorable Mention, $500 award.
Now in its 60th year, the association’s Scholarship Foundation has awarded 508 scholarships and more than $2 million since 1965.
With the merger in 2020 of Tidewater Builders Association and the Peninsula Housing & Builders Association into Coastal Virginia Building Industry Association, the Foundation has expanded its reach to include all cities and counties in southeastern Virginia, from Williamsburg to the Eastern Shore of Virginia and west to Isle of Wight County.
CVBIA will continue to provide scholarship funding during the 2025-26 academic year to 11 other past recipients. Funds for the Scholarship Foundation are raised by CVBIA members through the construction of a Scholarship House, as well as private donations. A portion of the proceeds from the annual CVBIA Golf Tournament are also contributed to the foundation.
