Alabama Concrete Industries Foundation has announced the 2002 recipients of its annual college scholarship competition. The goal of the Foundation is retention of the state's greatest asset — its youth. Each year the foundation awards two scholarships to the top students in the fields of engineering and civil science. John Sorrell of Alabama Concrete Industries Association notes that “the industry must do everything possible to encourage young people to find jobs in Alabama as the National Center for Construction Education and Research projects a need of 240,000 new people in the construction industry nationally each year through this decade.”

Secretary of State Jim Bennett (center) presented the scholarships on behalf of ACIF to Danica Leigh Thornburg, a civil engineering senior at University of Alabama in Birmingham, and Daniel McMillan, also a civil engineering senior at the University of Alabama. Selection of the winners was based on academic excellence, employment, industry interest, civic involvement and leadership ability.