By Roslyn Ryan, Editor
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For local students who may be the first in their family to seek a college degree, the Project Discovery program is intended to offer the tools to help attain that goal.

Last Wednesday organizers of the program gathered at Rosa’s Italian restaurant in Flat Rock with this year’s group of graduates to celebrate the end of another successful year.

Administered through the Capital Area Partnership Uplifting People, Project Discovery offers aid including workshops, counseling and academic support to low-income students or those who would otherwise face obstacles on the road to higher education. To Project Discovery Manager Betsey Lemley, the services they offer are crucial. “So many families [who may want to send their kids to college] don’t know the way,” she explained. “It’s just a wonderful program.”

This year she worked with 25 students at Powhatan High School, talking them through the sometimes-frustrating application process and even accompanying them on campus visits.

Among this year’s group of college-bound seniors, all of whom will be attending college next year, were three particularly noteworthy honorees.

Breanna Berry, Shayla Hicks and Tiara Taliaferro were each awarded one of only 20 scholarships available through the program.

Berry plans to attend Old Dominion to study Business and Accounting. Hicks is heading to VCU to study Nursing Pre-Med. Taliaferro, who will also be attending VCU, plans to study radiology.

All three enthusiastically recommended the program to students entering high school next year, saying that it helped them feel much more comfortable with all aspects of the college application process.