PORTLAND — The University of Southern Maine has bestowed honorary degrees to the co-founders of the Worthington Scholarship Foundation.

During the virtual commencement ceremony last weekend, David and Beverly Worthington, of Spruce Head, accepted the Doctor of Humane Letters in a pre-taped video presentation.

“Our passion is about lifting up Maine students to achieve their academic goals,” says Beverly Worthington, in a Worthington Foundation news release. “The greatest honor is to see their successes in school, work, and life when given an opportunity.”

The Worthingtons were honored for their charitable contributions to the field of education through the launch of their foundation. Since 2010, the Worthingtons have been providing scholarships to Maine students throughout the mid-coast region.

This year, their scholarship program plans to provide around $3 million worth of scholarships with the average scholarship totaling over $16,000 over 4 years. Next year, they plan to expand the scholarship to include 6 additional counties.  

“We appreciate the University of Southern Maine’s recognition of our foundation’s efforts to provide a critical bridge between Maine’s youth and Maine’s future workforce,” says David Worthington. “Our goal has always been to make higher education more accessible and affordable to Maine students.”

Beverly is a retired commercial pilot and Dave was the principal owner of TGS Geophysical Company, a worldwide seismic data acquisition and processing company.

FMI about the scholarship and how students can apply, you can visit www.worthingtonscholars.org.