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TCA Scholarship Fund issues awards to more than 50 students

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The Truckload Carriers Association’s (TCA) Scholarship Fund will be providing financial assistance to 52 undergraduate college students for the 2019-20 academic school year. Each student will receive a scholarship ranging from $6,250 to $2,725 from a total pool of nearly $150,000.

Since 1973, the Fund has been providing scholarships to students associated with the trucking industry. Each winner must be a student in good standing who will be attending a four-year college or university and must be associated with a TCA member company as an employee, independent contractor, or the child, grandchild, or spouse of an employee or independent contractor of a TCA member company.

The Fund awards its scholarships without regard to race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, equal pay, disability, or genetic information.

“I am excited to continue the growth of the TCA Scholarship Fund and the awards that are going to so many deserving students,” said TCA Scholarship Fund Chairman and Celadon Group President & Chief Operating Officer Jon Russell. “From the many first-generation college students, to the repeat award winners, I look forward to reading about their future accomplishments achieved due in small part to the help from the TCA Scholarships.”


This year, TCA is proud to announce that it received the most applications to date. Adhering to its bylaws, six TCA Scholarship Fund Trustees judged the applicants, taking into considering the applicant’s GPA, major, extracurricular activities, hours worked, and more.

“This process was very enlightening but difficult,” said TCA Scholarship Fund Treasurer and American Central Transport, Inc.’s Senior Vice President Bob Kretsinger. “Most the applicants were very informative about all the work and activities they put forth to achieve. It was very difficult to judge because not only did they excel at school, but some did extracurricular activities such as sports, clubs, and work made it even more impressive.”

The seven largest scholarships are named after dedicated members, affiliates, and past TCA chairmen. The largest scholarship—named after the National Association of Independent Truckers (NAIT) in the amount of $6,250—will be awarded to Imani Diggs of Columbia, South Carolina. A freshman at North Carolina Central University, she’s dual majoring in computer science and business. Her father, Horrace Tobin, is a professional truck driver with KLLM Transport Services.

Meet this year’s TCA scholarship recipients:


Imani Diggs
KLLM Transport Services, Inc.
NAIT Scholarship – $6,250

Megan Baumhover
Freymiller, Inc.
John Kaburick Scholarship – $4,500

Cameron Dober
Great Dane Trailers
Robert Low Scholarship – $3,250

Alyssa Kirkham
Prime Inc.
Kai Norris Scholarship – $3,250

Eilish Stanek
Ace Doran Hauling and Rigging
Stoney Reese Stubbs Scholarship – $3,250

Vatsal Jain
NFI Industries
Darrel Clark Wilson III Scholarship – $3,250

Charlie Dorn
SAF Holland
Thomas Welby Scholarship – $3,250

The following have been awarded $2,725 for the 2019-20 school year:


Alexis Baumhover – Freymiller, Inc.
Andrea Vidaurre – WEX, an EFS Company
Ann Nagle – Bay & Bay Transportation
Ashely Scarantino – Prime Inc.
Ashlea Joyce – TLD Logistics
Blake Quinn – Prime Inc.
Cameran Jensen – Fremont Contract Carriers
Casey Russell – JLE Industries
Chloe Claxton – Big G Express, Inc.
Connor Olson – Bay & Bay Transportation
Eli Baird – Ezzell Trucking, Inc.
Emilie Hughes – Cargo Transporters, Inc.
Emily Gomez – John Christner Trucking
Emily Hansen – Prime Inc.
Emily Smith – Tucker Freight Lines
Emma Moore – Daseke, Inc.
Emma Thomerson – Best Logistics Group
Grace Hendrickson – Prime Inc.
Grayce McCormick – Fremont Contract Carriers, Inc.
Hailey Freeland – Stageline Express
Harper G. Auman – Prime Inc.
Heather Corbin – Celadon Trucking
Isabella Icamina – KLLM Transport Services
Jackson Leman – Decker Truck Lines
Jacob Deere – Swift Transportation
Jacob Mitchell – Paschall Truck Lines
Jessica Mastronie – NFI Industries
Kaitlyn Mcphee – Prime Inc.
Lacie Gager – Stevens Transport
Lauren Townley – CRST Malone Inc.
Liberty Blaine – Halvor Lines, Inc.
Luke Senft – S & H Express
Maxwell Herbst – Leonard’s Express
Nathan G Pitzel – Bison Transport
Paige Carter – Henderson Trucking
Rae Ballinger – H.O. Wolding
Ryan Hernandez – Smith Transportation Services
Salvatore Messina – Prime Inc.
Sam Lutzel – Metropolitan Trucking
Scott Dziedzic – Covenant Transport
Sidney Branham – Best Logistics Group
Thomas Goble  – Central Marketing Transport
Trey Charbonneau – National Carriers
Tyson Williams – CDLjobs.com
Victoria Freeman – U.S. Xpress, Inc.

TCA congratulates this year’s recipients. For more information about the TCA Scholarship Fund, or for how you can donate to the Past Chairmen’s Fund, visit www.truckload.org/scholarships.

Chris Henry

Chris Henry has spent his entire 20-year career in transportation. In 2014, he founded the online motor carrier benchmarking service StakUp. As a result of a partnership with the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) in 2015, StakUp was rebranded as inGauge and Henry became the program manager for the TCA Profitability Program (TPP), an exclusive benchmarking initiative that includes more than 230 motor carrier participants throughout North America. Since joining the program, participation in TPP has grown over 300%. In June 2019, StakUp was acquired by FreightWaves and Henry became its vice president of carrier profitability, in addition to his role with TPP. Henry earned an MBA from the University of Massachusetts and a bachelor of commerce degree from Nipissing University.