May 1, 2025
Adaline Cumpston
A John Marshall High School senior can pursue her aspirations of a career in horticulture in college tuition-free as the winner of the West Virginia Nursery & Landscape Association’s George W. Longenecker Scholarship.
The WVNLA board of directors has selected Adaline Cumpston as the second recipient of the Longenecker Scholarship, which was created to honor the WVU professor who was instrumental in developing the school’s landscape architecture program.
The scholarship provides full tuition reimbursement for four semesters while the student maintains a 3.0 grade point average and full credits in either the Landscape Architecture or Horticultural Programs. Cumpston is the second recipient of the scholarship, which was established in 2024 to encourage graduating high school seniors to apply for and enroll in the Landscape Architecture or Horticulture programs at WVU’s Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design.
The scholarship is open to all high school seniors in the state who have been accepted into Davis College, with Cumpston planning to enter the horticulture program. Applicants must submit an essay detailing their interest in landscape architecture or ornamental horticulture and why they feel it is important to the state of West Virginia to develop future professionals in the nursery and landscape design industry.
Cumpston transferred to John Marshall from Cameron High School in her sophomore year and discovered her love for horticulture in the school’s greenhouse. Raising seeds into plants gave her a “feeling of pride” she had not felt before, and her next three years in agriculture classes confirmed her love for the field.
“Horticulture interested me the most because I was in the greenhouse for most of my classes, and I loved just being able to get my hands in the dirt,” Cumpston said. “It was also exciting to watch what I planted grow.”
Cumpston decided to apply for the Longenecker Scholarship on a whim, with her primary motivator for sending her application being that the scholarship covered the major she was interested in. In her essay, Cumpston reflected on the three years she spent in the John Marshall greenhouse and how she discovered her love for horticulture there.
When she learned she received the scholarship from her mother, Cumpston said it alleviated “a lot of stress” she felt heading into college due to potential student loan debt.
“My mom called to tell me that I got it, and all I could say was, ‘Oh my gosh, this is great,’” Cumpston recalled. “It was a shock when I found out I got the scholarship because I didn’t really expect it, but I was really happy. I worked really hard during my three years at JM, so I’m just happy I was able to benefit from that.”
Cumpston is excited to attend the Davis College in the fall without worrying about tuition payments, but is even more excited to have access to the large greenhouse used by the horticulture program.
“The school has a really, really big greenhouse with plants everywhere,” Cumpston said. “There are different rooms with plants in different stages of growth, as well as one really big greenhouse where all the plants are fully grown and ready for sale. I want to work in greenhouses for the rest of my life, so I’m really excited to take classes there.”
WVNLA Executive Director Julie Robinson said Cumpston was selected as she “ticked all the boxes” of the criteria amongst the applicants the scholarship committee considered.
“When we look at applicants, we consider what they could do in their career and in their community, and so our scholarship committee members check to make sure all the criteria have been met,” Robinson said. “Adaline was a well-rounded applicant who seemed very sure of her direction. She was obviously a great student in high school, and she just seemed like she would be a very, very good candidate and very successful in these programs.”
John Marshall High School Agriculture Teacher Peyton Bertram was not surprised Cumpston received the scholarship, noting that she had “excelled in all” of the agriculture classes she took at the school.
“Adaline is always very curious and asking questions about, like, ‘Why didn’t this work?’ or ‘What do we need to do to make this better?’” Bertram said. “She’s just a very motivated student.”
Bertram joked that Cumpston became “her little teaching assistant” in the classroom when Bertram came to teach at the school last November. She said Cumpston showed her around the greenhouse and classrooms and had “been a really big help.”
“I think Adaline getting this scholarship is great, not only for her, but for our program as well,” Bertram added. “I hope when students learn about her earning this scholarship, they get excited and consider that maybe agriculture is something they could pursue, excel in and get scholarships for. I think Adaline getting this really boosts the programs, and I’m sure she’ll go on to do great things in college.”
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