Four Virginia
high school seniors were among the 100 winners of a Young Entrepreneur
Foundation Scholarship award from the National Federation of Independent
Business, America’s leading small-business association since 1943.

NFIB’s Young Entrepreneur Awards
are designed to reward and encourage entrepreneurial talents among high school
students. “We are impressed year after year with the quality of these
hard-working, innovative high school students who are making their
entrepreneurial dreams happen,” said Molly Young, Director of the Young
Entrepreneur Foundation.

“These young entrepreneurs are
the future of small business,” said Nicole Riley, state director of
NFIB/Virginia.

Ninety-five of the graduating
high school seniors will receive $2,000 toward their college and university
costs. Five students are in the running for the top Young Entrepreneur of the
Year scholarship of $25,000 and the $15,000 Dan Danner Scholarship. The
remaining three finalists will receive a $10,000 Young Entrepreneur Award. A
special ceremony announcing the five will be held in Washington, D.C. on June
23.

The Virginia winners are:

• Grayson
  Albers of Ashburn, who attends Broad Run High School, received an
  NFIB/McKee Foods Young Entrepreneur Award. Grayson’s enterprise GG’s
  Frozen Treats LLC.
• Tyler Marx
  of Virginia Beach, who attends Princess Anne High School, received an
  NFIB/McKee Foods Young Entrepreneur Award. Tyler’s business is Broad Bay
  Boards.
• Destiny
  Graham of Richmond, who attends Varina High School, received an
  NFIB/Virginia Leadership Council Young Entrepreneur Award. Destiny is the
  founder of Destiny’s Pops.
• Sarah Sunder
  of Woodbridge, who attends Potomac High School, received an NFIB/Wiley
  Rein Young Entrepreneur Award. Her company is called Sarah Sunder Inc.

Virginia’s YEF Scholarships
were financed by donations to NFIB. Each of these contributions was then
matched by Visa Inc. to provide more reward for these deserving young
entrepreneurs. Since 2003, the NFIB Young Entrepreneur Foundation has awarded
more than 2,700 scholarships totaling $2.7 million. This year, NFIB’s Young
Entrepreneur Foundation awarded $270,000 to deserving young entrepreneurs. Each
award is between $2,000 and $25,000. The scholarships are used to help with
tuition costs for the winners’ post-secondary education.

To qualify for an NFIB Young
Entrepreneur Award, students must be seniors in high school who own and/or
operate their own small business. They are required to write an essay
describing their entrepreneurial endeavors and future goals. NFIB members
around the country interview the applicants for the Young Entrepreneur Awards.

A full list of this year’s
winners, as well as past winners, is available at www.nfib.com/YEA2016.