The JHP Legacy: Breanna Vocke

A Lasting Legacy

The Jon H. Poteat Scholarship is one of 280 scholarships we offer our members every year. Named in honor and memory of our Co-Founder, these scholarships are awarded annually to members who consistently exemplify the seven character attributes of NTHS – Skill, Honesty, Service, Responsibility, Scholarship, Citizenship, and Leadership.

This year, we’ll be awarding $1,000 to 250 fortunate NTHS members. 

Have You Heard the Good News?

The deadline to apply for the Jon H. Poteat Scholarship has been EXTENDED to this coming Sunday, May 31st! We want to make sure that all our Members have plenty of time to get their applications submitted, given the adjustments that everyone in education is making right now.

Applying for the JHP Scholarship is so quick and easy. So make sure to log in, and apply today!

Meet Breanna

Breanna Vocke is the youngest of 6 siblings in a blended family. Throughout her education, she has had to face and conquer several challenges, including a paralyzing shyness and social anxiety. “I’ve always been someone who gets overwhelmed easily with school, so I found an outlet in playing softball for a travel/club team and for my school all year round. Softball gave me a chance to take a break from the stress of home and school situations and do something that I loved.”

By embracing activities that allowed her to cope with her anxiety in a healthy way, Breanna was able to achieve what she considers her greatest accomplishment to date: Successfully earning her high school diploma. “Participating in sports helped me become much more social and open to new and different opportunities, as I have always been very shy and overcome with anxiety growing up. Although I still struggle with anxiety today, along the way I have been able to pick up ways to cope with it like playing softball, drawing, and painting.”

As Breanna continued to rely on her love for drawing and painting to master her anxiety, her CTE-based education at Hartford Technical High School began to open up a whole new outlet for her artistic creativity in Computer Aided Design and Drafting (CADD).  She had considered a few different career paths while she was in high school, including marine biology, graphic design, and architecture… But it was the hands-on learning she received through her technical school that helped her decide the pathway she wanted to take. “My experience in those four years of CADD led to my decision to major in engineering, as I enjoyed working with 3-D design, landscape plans, and architectural plans.”

Now Breanna is in her first year at Waynesburg University, where she’s majoring in Mathematical Engineering. “My [long term] goal is to narrow my focus to Aerospace Engineering, particularly the design aspects of it.” She credits being involved in Career and Technical Education (CTE), and being a member of NTHS, as having given her an opportunity to have a stronger mindset about what she wanted to do after high school, and all that she can achieve using what she’s already learned and experienced.

“CTE is important because it makes you realize how much potential you really have in your chosen career path, and just how many amazing things that you can accomplish. CTE also presents itself as a jump start to a great career, and a great sense of encouragement to continue pushing for those life goals that had once seemed [to me] difficult to achieve.”

In 2019, Breanna was one of the fortunate recipients of the Jon H. Poteat Scholarship. She acknowledges that it takes a lot of effort, as well as a substantial financial commitment to attain the education needed for the career path she’s chosen. “Receiving a scholarship from NTHS is helping me get a few steps closer to that degree, and even closer to a promising career as an engineer.”

Students like Breanna are the reason we do what we do, and we are so very proud to be a small part of her journey to success!

Don’t miss your chance to be a part of the JHP Scholarship legacy as well! Click here to learn more about the scholarship program, and apply today!