A new scholarship, for students in need, honors a life-long educator and her son.

At a post-lunch convocation, Dr. Louis Levy announced the Ruby and John Sullivan Educational Scholarship and awarded Sullivan the fourth President’s Medallion to be awarded at VSU.

The scholarship announcement is in conjunction with the renaming of the Valdosta Literacy Center to the Ruby R. Sullivan Literacy Center.

“I’m concerned about the rising cost of education,” Sullivan said. “It’s almost impossible to afford.”

Mrs. Ruby R. Sullivan created the scholarship to honor her son, John Sullivan, who died in September 2010.

“John was a strong believer in education,” Sullivan said.

The scholarship is unique in that it allows for a stipend after the recipient graduates, which is awarded to the student for returning to the South Georgia community from which they graduated high school.

It is awarded to students who show a financial need and those that are from an economically challenged county in Georgia.

On hand were the two first recipients of the award, Mariah Dewberry and Vontessa Kendall.