Scholarship Details
Mary Rutledge Hemphill came from a farming background and was a long-time resident of Buncombe County, North Carolina. She and her husband Arthur Joe Hemphill, Jr. lived in Black Mountain, North Carolina for most of their lives.
Not having children of their own, the Hemphills ‘adopted' numerous children who became very special to them over the years. In keeping with this love of children, and her deep affinity toward animals, Mrs. Hemphill established the Mary R. Hemphill Scholarship Fund in order to assist young people in our area who wish to study veterinary medicine.
Eligibility
Scholarships, renewable for three more years, are available to graduating high school seniors from public schools in Buncombe, Madison, and McDowell counties (and graduating seniors who are residents of Buncombe, Madison, or McDowell counties and are homeschooled or attend the NC School of Science and Mathematics) who will attend a college or university in North Carolina or Tennessee and intend to engage in a course of study leading to a Veterinary or Animal Science Degree.
CFWNC ensures that all scholarship recipients are selected on an objective and nondiscriminatory basis and that selections are based on specific guidelines and criteria for each fund.
Selection Criteria
In order of consideration:
- demonstrated financial need
- a minimum of 3.0 weighted GPA
- work experience
How to Apply
To apply, students must complete an application online via SmarterSelect. The application, along with the two required letters of recommendation, must be submitted by the deadline. Please add automated.email@smarterselect.com to your Safe Senders list to ensure that emails from the system don’t end up in your junk/spam folder.
The 2026 application process has closed.
Application Procedure
The scholarship program is administered by The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina. Please direct any questions about this scholarship to the Foundation at scholarships@cfwnc.org.
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