Bakersville resident receives first Phillips Foundation dental scholarship

A resident of Bakersville in Mitchell County is the recipient of a scholarship at the East Carolina University School of Dental Medicine.

Kyle Duncan, a May graduate of Appalachian State University, has received the first Samuel L. Phillips Family Foundation Scholarship. The foundation is based in Mitchell County.

Dr. James R. Hupp, left, dean of the ECU School of Dental Medicine, poses with Kyle Duncan, the first recipient of the Samuel L. Phillips Family Foundation Scholarship. Photo by Doug Boyd

“I can never repay you or express my gratitude to you,” Duncan told members of the Phillips family Tuesday in Spruce Pine during an announcement about the site of the school’s fifth community service learning center. “This has always been home to me and where I want to come back to, where my heart is. That’s really what I want, and, Lord willing, I’ll be able to do that.”

Duncan is the son of Wanda and Tommy Duncan and a graduate of Mitchell High School. He starts dental school this month.

The scholarship provides full tuition, fees and living expenses for four years of dental school. Scholarship recipients must practice for at least five years in the Mayland area — Mitchell, Avery and Yancey counties — said Gina Phillips, a family member and foundation board member.

The foundation will award a scholarship to an area resident every four years.