Charlottesville, Va. – October 20, 2022 – Piedmont Virginia Community College (PVCC) is proud to announce a new NAACP scholarship in memory of Tamyra Kaye Turner, a former professor of English at PVCC. The scholarship, established by the Albemarle-Charlottesville NAACP Branch, will be awarded annually to PVCC students enrolled in Liberal Arts or General Studies. On October 17, stipends and a scholarship totaling $3,500 were awarded to students Ny’Asia Carter, Djamila Sanda and Michael Turner.

PVCC President Jean Runyon stated, “Tamyra Turner demonstrated a profound belief in her students and their futures. Her legacy of inspiration and confidence in the transformative power of education will continue in the lives of our scholarship recipients. We are exceedingly grateful to the Turner family and to the NAACP.”

Carter, a Louisa High School graduate, and M. Turner, a Nelson County High School graduate, expressed their gratitude and emphasized the importance of paying forward the opportunities and support that have been shown to them. Both hope to transfer to Virginia Commonwealth University when they graduate from PVCC. Each received a $1,000 stipend award.

A $1,500 scholarship was awarded to Sanda. “I am so thankful for this scholarship,” she expressed. “This will help me achieve so much. I want to keep working hard so that I may one day be able to give back in the capacity of Mrs. Turner.” In addition to being a PVCC student, Sanda works at the University of Virginia Hospital and aspires to transfer to UVA to earn her bachelor’s and master’s degrees after graduating from PVCC.

Tamyra Turner was an active member of the Albemarle-Charlottesville NAACP Branch. Her community involvement also included serving on the Charlottesville School Board from 1993-1996, as a board member of the Jefferson Madison Regional Library from 2012-16, as an advisory board member of the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center in 2008, and as a steering committee member for the Virginia Festival of the Book. She founded the City of Charlottesville’s Juneteenth Celebration in 2000, which was held at PVCC until 2016.

Local NAACP chapter members, along with several of Turner’s family members, formally presented the scholarship awards to the students. “It is such an honor to be able to remember this very special woman, Tamyra Turner, and these first award recipients in this way,” shared Albemarle-Charlottesville NAACP Branch President Janette Boyd Martin.

To learn more about the Tamyra K. Turner Memorial Scholarship visit www.pvcc.edu/turner-memorial-scholarship.

About Piedmont Virginia Community College

Established in 1972, Piedmont Virginia Community College is a nonresidential two-year institution of higher education that serves Central Virginia – principally, residents of the City of Charlottesville and the counties of Albemarle, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, and Nelson. PVCC is committed to providing access to a college education for all who can benefit, an opportunity for each student to reach her/his potential, and excellence in all programs and services. Visit www.pvcc.edu.

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Pictured: 

Members of the Tamyra K. Turner family with NAACP scholarship award recipients. 

Award recipients (holding checks), left-to-right, Djamila Sanda, Ny’Asia Carter, and Michael Turner

Photograph: 

Courtesy of PVCC Marketing