VUSHRM Scholarship Winners | Ying-Chu Chen & Grace Cook

This year, VUSHRM created their first ever SHRM exam scholarship! With the application open to all active VUSHRM members, our hope was to support our members in pursuing their SHRHM-CP/SCP by covering the cost of their exam fees. In the application, we asked how VUSHRM has helped them in their careers and professional development, and how they envision the SHRM exam propelling them forward into their HR careers. Our two winners for this year are Yingchu Chen and Grace Cook!

Ying-Chu and Grace at the Level Up 23 conference

Both Ying-Chu and Grace are students in the HRD program and are hoping to use the SHRM exam as their final graduation capstone requirement. For Grace, who is graduating in May 2023, getting her SHRM certification is a way for her to successfully transition from being a Master's student into her first full-time HR role. She knows that, in whatever role she ends up in, she "will leverage those HR competencies to be an asset to [her] team, [her] organization, and to the future of HR".

Ying-Chu knows that getting your certification "is not only substantial evidence of your ability, but also lets the company see your productive efforts and passion in the HR field". With a plan to graduate in December 2023, Ying, who is originally from Taiwan, hopes to find an HR role here in the US. And with the help of the scholarship, getting her SHRM-CP will give her the extra edge on her resume and in interviews to help with the job search!

We are so glad that this scholarship came to fruition and that we were able to help our students and VUSHRM members reach their goals. The hope is that this will become an annual scholarship so we can continue to support our members on their HR journeys for years to come!