Sharon Littlepage shares the motivation behind the scholarship she created in honor of her late father and the community that shaped her.
When asked what inspired her to create the Cecil Stricker Scholarship Fund, Sharon Littlepage will point you to a news article that discussed the startling reality for Herbert Hoover High School students: Some would graduate having never stepped foot inside of their high school.
In June 2016, parts of West Virginia experienced roughly 7–10 inches of rainfall in less than 24 hours, leading to historic flooding that devastated communities throughout the region. Elkview was one such community, and caught in the crossfire was Herbert Hoover High School. Extensive damage to the school forced its temporary closure, leaving students in the area to continue their education in portable classrooms and share spaces and resources with the local middle school.
Littlepage, having left West Virginia some years prior, was heartbroken when she found out. “When I realized the flooding happened, we were living in Knoxville. When we went to visit family in the area, we drove by the ruined high school, and I thought, ‘That was the last thing these people needed,’” she remembers. “I am a product of temporary buildings, so I know what that was like.”
Littlepage grew up in Pinch, roughly 12 miles from the capital city. She attended Elkview High School—later to be merged with Clendenin High School to create Herbert Hoover—as did much of her family, including her late father, Cecil Stricker. He wouldn’t graduate, however, leaving school in the midst of his 10th-grade year in order to help support his family. “He could have been somebody,” Littlepage reflects. “He had great potential, but his family circumstances required him to go to work, driving a truck for one of the coal mines.”
Stricker instilled the value of education in Littlepage as a young girl, encouraging her to attend college—and she did. In 1966, she graduated from the University of Charleston with a Bachelor of Arts in English and, in 1975, earned a Master of Science in Journalism with a specialization in Public Relations from West Virginia University. “I was one of the first in my family to go to college,” she says. Her brother, David, followed in her footsteps, and both of them relied on scholarships to cover the cost. “I always had a job while I was in college at both universities. I was never given anything—except scholarships.”
As construction on the new and improved Herbert Hoover High School was underway, Littlepage set out to make a difference in the community that shaped her. In 2021, she established the Cecil Stricker Scholarship Fund through The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation, using the money from her time in a women’s investment club while working at the University of Tennessee as a fundraiser and magazine editor in the Office of Agricultural Development. “That is what really started the fund. I could do without it, so why not give it to someone who could use it?”
The scholarship—named to honor her father’s sacrifices and endless encouragement—was created specifically for Herbert Hoover High School seniors set to become first generation college students like Littlepage herself. “I was in a position to help other people,” she says. “There are a fair number of people in need in that community, and I felt like I could do some good.”
Littlepage says it was surprisingly easy to create a scholarship through TGKVF, and she’s glad she did it. “It was the smartest decision I made,” she admits. The Foundation’s skilled, professional advisors worked closely with Littlepage, guiding her through the decision-making process based on her specific interests and financial goals. “It was a great meeting, and I felt really good when I left.”
The Cecil Stricker Scholarship Fund is just one of more than 115 available scholarships managed through TGKVF. In the 2024–25 school year, $1.6 million in scholarships alone was dispersed to more than 500 students around the state, funding dreams for four-year, two-year, associate, vocational, and doctoral programs.
“Every year when there is a recipient, I will get a nice email, a photo, and a little background on the student and their chosen school,” Littlepage shares. “It’s so nice to see that young person and think, ‘They’re going to do well. They have a chance to shine.’”