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Derick A. Spencer, a sophomore political science and history major at Alderson-Broaddus College, has been selected to receive the first-ever Dr. Kenneth H. Yount Scholarship at the college.

Spencer is a 2008 graduate of Philip Barbour High School, where he served as class president in both his junior and senior years, and as student council parliamentarian and secretary. He was also a member of the Philip Barbour library media technology center committee, which drafted proposals on how to spend $20,000 for technology upgrades to the Philip Barbour High School library.

He was named to the dean's list at Alderson-Broaddus College during his freshman year. He is also a member of the college's Honors Program, and was recently elected secretary of the sophomore class at A-B. He has attended Mansfield United Methodist Church since elementary school and has been involved in numerous political campaigns at all levels.

The son of Pam and Rick Spencer, Derick's sister, Brittany, is a student at Philip Barbour High School. His career goals are to become an attorney or a college professor, and to hold public office.

"I was very happy when I was informed that I was being awarded the scholarship," said Spencer. "I am grateful for the financial aid and the distinct honor of this award."

The Dr. Kenneth H. Yount Scholarship is a one-year award, granted to a student at Alderson-Broaddus College who is majoring in the social sciences, has a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 and who has demonstrated outstanding qualities of scholarship, leadership, character and service.

The scholarship was established in 2000 in honor of Dr. Kenneth H. Yount, a longtime faculty member at Alderson-Broaddus College. In establishing the scholarship award, Dr. John Weaver, an alumnus of Alderson-Broaddus College, on behalf of the former students creating the scholarship award, asked that Yount "accept the scholarship in your name as a partial but eternal gift of thanks for the life you have led, for the commitment to learning you have made, for the gifts you have given us in uncountable ways. We honor you not just as a celebration of what you have done with your life but as a public statement of thanks for the care you have taken to nurture our lives."

Yount is currently professor of political science and history and director of the college's Honors Program. He has served A-B College for 36 years in a variety of academic and administrative positions.