Public Education Foundation announced that Shanice Garner, a 2021 graduate of The University of Tennessee and a 2017 graduate of Tyner Academy, will receive a $500 Empower Scholarship in honor of Marie Webb’s service on PEF’s board of directors. Ms. Webb is EPB’s senior vice president and chief talent & inclusion officer and served on PEF’s board of directors from 2016 to 2021.
“While she was on PEF’s board, Marie Webb championed PEF’s summer internship program, STEP-UP Chattanooga. Each summer, she made sure that eight to ten Hamilton County students benefited from a paid internship at EPB,” said PEF's President Dr. Dan Challener. “She also served as a mentor to an aspiring principal in PEF’s Principal Leadership Academy, and she provided really helpful advice to our senior staff as we wrestled with various challenges. Marie Webb was the epitome of an outstanding board member, and PEF is delighted to award a scholarship in her honor,” Dr. Challener added.
“PEF is easy to support because they work hard to close the talent gap for EPB and other Chattanooga employers,” said Ms. Webb. “I am so honored that this scholarship inclusively supports rising young professionals like Shanice Garner to help her realize her incredible potential.”
Ms. Garner recently graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of science in business administration from the University of Tennessee. This fall, she plans to pursue her master of finance degree at Vanderbilt University and will use the scholarship there. Ms. Garner is a 2016 alumnus of PEF’s Camp College, a robust summer retreat that has helped more than 1000 students be the first in their family to go to college. In 2017, she participated in STEP-UP Chattanooga, PEF’s summer internship program that ultimately prepared her to be selected for a paid summer internship at EPB.