D onald “Trey” Cherry, ’10, and Whitney McCullough Cherry, ’10, believe in something bigger than themselves—the power of giving back to their community and Georgia College students. 

Years ago, they met in Parkhurst Hall at Georgia College. The couple started dating their freshman year and have been married for 10 years. They worked together at Phone-a-thon, calling Georgia College alumni to generate donations for the university.

Whitney was involved in the campus chapter of the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance, where she served as president. She was also a big sister through the GIVE Center and is still in touch with her little sister.

Georgia College played a large role in the couple’s success today. Whitney is an occupational therapist in an acute care hospital serving older adults who are recovering from major illnesses and injuries. Trey is a founding partner at an investment banking advising firm, helping small- and medium-sized business owners with legacy planning. They live in Richmond, Virginia, closer to extended family, have two-year-old twins and are expecting their third child in October. 

“Every class I took as a sociology major at Georgia College helped me learn about the social structures in our world that affect us all on a personal, societal and global level,” Whitney said. “We must ask ourselves, ‘how we can try to make change in our small areas?’”

Her classes helped her understand human behavior and expand her awareness of different cultures, customs and religious belief systems. 

“I have to understand all that if I'm helping someone regain independence in their daily life with selfcare and work-related duties,” she said. “I don't know that I could do my job effectively without it.” 

Whitney holds Drs. Robin Harris and Stephanie McClure in high regard. Both taught her to think critically and apply what she learned in class to the real world.

I think critically about the effectiveness of the interventions I provide as an occupational therapist,” Whitney said. “I learned strong foundational research skills, so that I’m always thinking about what I’m doing—if it’s evidence based and the right thing for the individuals I work with.”

Dr. Nicholas Beadles, professor of management had a great impact on both Whitney and Trey. The couple took his business management course together. Her strong work ethic partially stems from Beadles’ teachings of professionalism, accountability and doing the right thing.

Beadles was Trey’s favorite professor. 

“He taught me to be accountable, which helped me later as I got older and experienced the iterations of life,” Trey said. “Dr. Beadles provided a good foundation for me.” 

After graduation, Trey was accepted into a competitive 10-month leadership training program with BB&T in Winston-Salem North Carolina. Out of approximately 10,000 applicants, BB&T selected 50.

“It was cool that most of the employees from the best schools around the southeast were competing along with myself,” Trey said. “All the things that Georgia College taught me prepared me to land that opportunity.”

“There are a lot of things you've got to do to successfully to get through school. And for me, the size of Georgia College was conducive to learning,” Trey said. “You couldn't just blend into the background—you had to be involved.”

“In college, you're still trying to figure out who you are,” he said. “You reach a point in life where you're going to be leader and you've got standards.” 

Beadles would assign articles to be read for class and would call on his students when the articles were due. If the students couldn't answer his questions, he would light-heartedly “fire” them, excusing them from class that day, just as an employer would expect employees to be prepared for work.

“I thought, ‘okay, this does happen in the real world,’” Trey said. “This lesson taught me to be accountable, which I have to be every day.”

“Dr. Beadles taught me the difference between management and leadership, the first is ‘doing things right’ while the second is ‘doing right things,’” Trey said. “His teachings were based around leadership.”

In addition to serving on various community boards in the past, Trey currently serves on the downtown Richmond YMCA board.

“I like to stay involved,” he said. “Being able, at some local level, to engage with what's going on in the community is important to me and Whitney.”

The couple offers a scholarship that will be awarded to Bibb County students attending Georgia College. It’s personal and meaningful to them since Trey attended public schools in that county.

“We’re really committed to giving back,” Whitney said. “Georgia College prepared us so well for the real world that when we were financially able to do it, we thought it was our responsibility to steward what we have. And we want the scholarship to bless students who seek to live out their passion and help their communities.”

Although it’s a little earlier than the couple intended, Trey and Whitney feel now’s a good time to step forward. They hope their gift will help ease the financial burden that comes along with pursuing a higher education.

And in doing so, they hope scholarship recipients appreciate alumni giving back and that it might influence them to do the same for someone else.

“I want them to focus more on being scholars and ambassadors for Georgia College,” Trey said. “Hopefully it’ll relieve a bit of financial burden on the students, and then show them this is something they could do in the future too.”