Arkansas, Alabama, and Louisiana students honored for self-initiated community leadership; selected from more than 2,000 applications nationwide

BATON ROUGE, La., June 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Storage Center has named three college students as winners of the Spring 2026 Space to Succeed Scholarship. Selected from more than 2,000 applications nationwide, each recipient receives a $5,000 award in recognition of community leadership they built from the ground up — without being asked, without a template, and without waiting for someone else to act first.

The Spring 2026 winners are Mattison Wiley of Texarkana, Arkansas (University of Central Arkansas); Mattie Wisener of Arab, Alabama (University of Alabama in Huntsville); and Amber Cook of Ponchatoula, Louisiana (LSU Alexandria). With this cycle’s awards, The Storage Center has now granted nine Space to Succeed Scholarships since launching the program in spring 2025, distributing $45,000 in total to college students across the country.

“What strikes us every cycle is that none of these students were looking for recognition,” said Robby Piper, Principal at The Storage Center. “They identified a problem, built something to solve it, and kept going. Mattison, Mattie, and Amber represent the best of what this scholarship was created to find — young people who act not for attention, recognition or titles, but because they see an opportunity to make a difference and step up.”

Mattison Wiley, a freshman at the University of Central Arkansas, has logged more than 847 verified community service hours spanning food insecurity, mentorship, literacy, and healthcare outreach. She created the Return to Texas High School Orthopedic Injury Checklist, a resource now in active use at her former school to guide students recovering from orthopedic injuries. As Director of Community Service and Fundraising for the Rosebuds Garden Club, she organized hygiene kit drives and literacy initiatives for families in need. This summer, Wiley will serve through AmeriCorps VISTA with CHRISTUS Health, contributing an additional 400 hours to outreach and capacity-building for underserved communities.

Mattie Wisener, an incoming student at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, founded “Think FAST: Stroke Awareness and Prevention” after her mother suffered a stroke when Wisener was eight years old. The initiative has helped save six lives, raised more than $10,000 for awareness and prevention efforts and produced stroke awareness proclamations in three cities. Wisener has also awarded three $1,000 scholarships of her own to graduating seniors whose families have been affected by stroke. She has a meeting scheduled with Governor Kay Ivey to pursue a statewide proclamation recognizing June as Stroke Awareness Month in Alabama.

Amber Cook of Ponchatoula, Louisiana, is the owner of Pippy’s Puppy Parlor LLC Holistic Pet Spa, where she has built a practice centered on sensory-conscious care for neurodivergent children, families, and behavioral or geriatric pets. A senior undergraduate psychology student at LSU Alexandria preparing to apply for graduate programs in pursuit of Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) certification, Cook also volunteers grooming services for local rescues and humane societies, provides free and reduced-cost care for elderly clients on fixed incomes, and travels to teach CPR, pet safety, and first aid through the ISCC. Her work with elderly clients has extended well beyond professional services — she has driven clients to medical appointments, accompanied them through treatments and provided regular companionship for those with limited support networks.

The Space to Succeed Scholarship is awarded twice annually by The Storage Center to college students who have demonstrated measurable, self-initiated community leadership. The Spring 2026 cycle drew more than 2,000 applications from across the country.

To learn more about The Space to Succeed Scholarship or this cycle’s winners, visit thestoragecenter.com/self-storage/scholarship/.

About The Storage Center
The Storage Center is an industry-leading owner and operator of over 61,000 storage units at over 72 self-storage facilities in six states. Headquartered in Baton Rouge, LA, the company has been constructing and operating high-quality, Class A storage facilities since 1986. The company offers customers a wide selection of conveniently located and secure storage units across the country, including climate-controlled storage, boat storage, RV storage and business storage units. Additional information regarding The Storage Center is available at thestoragecenter.com.

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SOURCE The Storage Center