Pepco Scholarship Builds Workforce Diversity, Opportunity
Victoria Adjei ’22 returned to college as an adult student. The Pepco scholarship
helped her complete an associate’s degree and successfully transfer to University
of Maryland Global Campus, where this fall she will begin working on a bachelor’s
degree in business administration.
Credit: Jennifer Lust
Working in conjunction with area businesses, Montgomery College responds to the needs of today’s—and tomorrow’s—employers. In collaboration with area businesses, the College helps provide economic opportunity for our students, county residents, and the many businesses who hire MC students and alumni.
Originally from Ghana, Victoria Adjei ’22 graduated high school in Montgomery County, enrolled at a four-year college, but dropped out. Years later, encouraged by her daughter, she enrolled at Montgomery College to complete an associate’s degree in business. She received a Pepco Community Scholars Program scholarship and, thanks to that financial boost—as well as care and support from her MC faculty and advisers— she is graduating from MC this spring.
“I am not stopping after Montgomery College,” Adjei says. “This fall, I will be starting to pursue my bachelor’s degree in business administration at University of Maryland Global Campus.”
The Pepco Community Scholars Program provides gap funding for limited- and moderate-income community members pursuing degrees in energy-related fields, including engineering, mathematics, chemistry, physics, computer science and technologies, or business. In addition, credit and noncredit students taking classes in IT and cybersecurity, CDL truck driving, automotive technology, green technology, and building trades technology are eligible to receive this scholarship. The goal is to increase equity, diversity, and opportunity across the community while building a strong local workforce and increasing the presence of women in STEM careers.
“For Pepco, the work needed to build a smarter, stronger, and cleaner power grid would not be possible without a high-caliber workforce,” says Rodney Oddoye, senior vice president, governmental, regulatory and external affairs, Pepco Holdings. “Much of the talent we need to develop and maintain the infrastructure that supports the communities we serve—now and into the future—is already right here.”
During the past two years, Pepco has provided the MC Foundation with $175,000 in scholarship funding through the Pepco Community Scholars Program; to date, 60 MC students have benefited. Pepco also established current-use and endowed scholarships for Achieving Collegiate Excellence and Success (ACES) participants (2015-2019), in addition to sponsoring the Montgomery College 75th Anniversary.
“Partnering with local community agencies, organizations, and companies strengthens our workforce and creates a robust pipeline of talent from the communities we serve, expanding opportunities overall,” Oddoye says. “We look forward to continuing this work with our local partners, including Montgomery College.”