NRCA is empowering all members of the industry with this scholarship

By Emma Peterson. 

There’s still time to apply for the Empower All Scholarship! Learn why this is so important! 

The National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA)’s Empower All Scholarship application deadline is coming up on November 8, 2024! This scholarship is aimed at roofing company employees, both in management and the field, to help them attend the 2025 International Roofing Expo in San Antonio, Texas from February 19-21. To get all the details about this scholarship and what an incredible opportunity it is, Megan Ellsworth hosted Kyrah Coker, a member of NRCA’s DEI committee; Tim Wyka, president of Mile Square Roofing; and Sara Donneys, a recipient of the Empower All Scholarship and one of Tim’s employees, for an episode of Roofing Road Trips®. 

Last year was the inaugural year for this scholarship program, which was born out of the goal of helping everyone in the industry get the opportunity to attend IRE, which is the biggest trade show and networking event in the industry. Kyrah explained a bit of how this came to be, sharing, “NRCA has a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) committee, and that committee is constantly looking at different things we can do as an industry to kind of push everyone forward and be inclusive and really focus on diversity and inclusion. And so this was a program that we thought of. We feel like the more people that can attend events like IRE and see like-minded people, it shows that there's a place for everyone within the roofing industry.” 

Sara, who received the scholarship last year, shared a bit about the impact it had on her, saying, “For me, to learn more about the industry, to get to know more people in the industry, to attend the IRE, to visit the floor... It was a great experience. I got to attend the NRC Safety Leadership Workshop, which was fantastic, and I got to listen to amazing speakers. That was very helpful. It was great to see them and listen to them and get more knowledge from them.” Tim, who is Sara’s boss and mentor, shared his perspective on this scholarship and the power of her experience, saying, “When you have someone who is as highly motivated as Sara is in continuing their education within the industry, it makes it pretty easy to want to foster that. I know the IRE had a pretty important impact on my early career, so providing that opportunity to more people, especially Sara, really resonated with me.” 

Read the transcript or Listen to the entire podcast to learn more about this scholarship, IRE and how both can help members of the roofing industry’s careers.