Virginia Tech student honored with full scholarship

The endowed Stuermann Memorial Scholarship is named after Mr. and Mrs. William Stuermann, and students receive $5,000 per year for three years. Recipients are chosen by the head of the forestry department on academic achievement or potential for superior academic achievement, leadership qualities, and desire to pursue a career within the forestry profession. Consideration is also given to financial need.

The endowed Stuermann Memorial Scholarship is named after Mr. and Mrs. William Stuermann, and students receive $5,000 per year for three years. Recipients are chosen by the head of the forestry department on academic achievement or potential for superior academic achievement, leadership qualities, and desire to pursue a career within the forestry profession. Consideration is also given to financial need.

Petre has ambitions of planning, establishing, and maintaining forests and forest ecosystems in a sustainable way to meet global demands. He said: "It is critical that forests be managed in responsible and knowledgeable ways so that they can continue to sustain the earth and the people."

Petre's academic honors include the Nancy M. Neuman Citizenship Award, the Walter and Esther Sauvain Scholarship, and the 2003 Pennsylvania 4-H scholarship. He took first place at both the Pennsylvania state Wildlife Habitat Management Competition and the Pennsylvania state Forestry Invitational.

A board member for the Buffalo Creek Watershed Alliance from 2001-2004, Petre is a Brotherhood member of the Order of the Arrow and involved with the Biological and Life Sciences Learning Community, among many other extracurricular activities.

Longtime members of the Virginia Forestry Association, the Stuermann's had no children themselves and wanted to find a way to help young people who had an interest in forestry and resource conservation. Upon her death, Mabel Stuermann bequeathed her entire estate to the Virginia Forestry Educational Foundation for scholarships resulting in the $1 million endowment.

The College of Natural Resources at Virginia Tech consistently ranks among the top five programs of its kind in the nation. Faculty members stress both the technical and human elements of natural resources and instill in students a sense of stewardship and land-use ethics. Areas of studies include environmental resource management, fisheries and wildlife sciences, forestry, geospatial and environmental analysis, natural resource recreation, urban forestry, wood science and forest products, geography, and international development.

Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech has grown to become the largest university in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Today, Virginia Tech's eight colleges are dedicated to putting knowledge to work through teaching, research, and outreach activities and to fulfilling its vision to be among the top 30 research universities in the nation. At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg and other campus centers in Northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls more than 28,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 180 academic degree programs.