Photo: Francheska Miranda, Hahira Middle School student, is named a REACH Scholar.
Eight Lowndes County eighth grade students were recognized with a signing ceremony as the fifth cohort of REACH Georgia Scholars.
Release:
Lowndes County Schools recognized five eighth graders as their fifth cohort of REACH Georgia Scholars.
Students were surprised with a signing ceremony amongst their peers complete with a visit from Superintendent Wes Taylor, their family members and a giant $10,000 check with their name on it!
REACH, an acronym for Realizing Educational Achievement Can Happen, is the State of Georgia’s first needs-based mentorship and college scholarship program. It provides promising students the support to graduate from high school and achieve postsecondary success.
Interested students obtained and completed applications early into their eighth grade year. They went through a rigorous interview process before being selected. Just five students system-wide were named recipients of the scholarship.
REACH Scholars are held to a high academic standard, must exhibit positive behavior and maintain good attendance. All of this is monitored not only by school officials but also by their mentor whom they meet with often.
Should the student meet these standards through their high school career, they are awarded the $10,000 scholarship to a HOPE eligible college or university in the State of Georgia. The funds have the opportunity to be doubled or tripled depending on the institution.
After the applications were reviewed and the candidates were interviewed, the interview panel selected just five winners: Brenlynn Booker, Key’Mariel Head, Francheska Miranda, Emma Grace Morris and Kassydee Yarbrough.
Booker attends Pine Grove Middle School and plans to major in education and attend Valdosta State University.
Head also attends PGMS and is still researching colleges but knows she will select one with a stellar nursing program, which is her desired field.
Miranda is a student at Hahira Middle School. She plans to attend the University of Georgia (UGA) and major in journalism to hopefully earn herself a career as a newspaper editor.
Morris attends Lowndes Middle School and aspires to attend UGA and is still narrowing down her area of study.
Yarbrough, also a student at LMS, plans to attend UGA and major in education. She one day hopes to be a math teacher.
This May, the first cohort of Lowndes County Schools’ REACH Scholars will graduate. All are on track to receive the highly anticipated scholarship money, making them great examples for this year’s group of five.
