Alum creates scholarship to benefit his high school and RIT

Students from Red Jacket High School in Manchester, N.Y., can benefit from a new scholarship funded by an RIT graduate. The Charles E. and Andrea Volpe Engineering Scholarship provides full tuition for four years beginning in the current school year.

Justin Werth received the first Volpe Engineering Scholarship. Charles Volpe '59 presented the scholarship at Werth's high school graduation.

The first recipient of the scholarship, valued at $90,000 over four years, is Justin Werth, a 2003 graduate of Red Jacket High School in the Manchester-Shortsville Central School District and son of Craig Werth of Collett Road in Shortsville and the late Paula Werth. Charles Volpe ’59 (mechanical engineering) presented the scholarship during Red Jacket High School graduation ceremonies in June.

Volpe graduated from Red Jacket High School in 1954.

“My RIT education helped me succeed in business,” he says. “Andrea and I want to encourage other young students from the area to obtain an RIT engineering education.”

Volpe is a director and the retired president and chief operating officer of KEMET Electronics Corp. in Simpsonville, S.C. He also was a longtime employee of Union Carbide Corp., former parent company of KEMET Electronics. He and his wife reside in Charleston, S.C.