The Chesterfield County Police Department announced today that this year’s Craig Rath Memorial Scholarship has been awarded to a Grange Hall Elementary School student.
Chesterfield County Police Maj. K.C. Carr and Child Safety Officer Diane Pongallo surprised Ashley Henderson with the award in front of her parents and peers during the school’s fifth-grade celebration, which took place at Cosby High School. Ashley received a $250 check and a letter from Col. Thierry G. Dupuis, along with a certificate in memory of Officer Craig Rath.
Ashley is the 17th winner of the scholarship created to honor Rath, who was killed on May 27, 1999, as a result of a traffic crash while he was on duty. Rath was an officer with the department’s Street Drug Enforcement Section.
Fifth-grade students apply for the scholarship by submitting a letter to the chief of police. Applicants are asked to outline how they can keep their schools and communities safe with information they have learned through the Success Through Education and Proactive Policing program (STEPP), how students and police can partner to improve the quality of schools and neighborhoods and how fifth-grade students can become winners in the fight against drugs.
