The Prince William County Bar Association presented ten $2,000 scholarships to students at their annual “Beat the Odds” Banquet.
The banquet is part of a program that is a joint effort between the Bar Association and the Juvenile Service Agencies of the 31st Judicial district, as a way to honor “the accomplishments of area youth who have achieved amazing social and academic progress despite having faced abandonment, abuse, neglect or otherwise unstable home environments during their childhood,” according to a release.
The scholarships were all given to graduating high school seniors that have been accepted to area colleges.
“Some award winners, being juniors in high school, received a laptop computer to support their continuing efforts in high school, and hopefully beyond,” stated a release.
Among the scholarships presented were several memorial scholarships – the Officer Ashley Marie Guindon scholarship, Dennis R. Carluzzo scholarship, and Evelyn Utter/Jane Hill scholarship, according to a release.
The following are comments from the scholarship recipients, from a release:
Rayvon: “A year ago today, I was in a really bad place, but with this, [scholarship] I can really do something with my life. It means I am somebody.”
Kristina: “My grandmother told me to never give up on my dreams [of going to college] and with this scholarship I can keep going and make her proud.”
Bethany: “I understand how important a quality education is to becoming the person I want to be. As part of the BTO scholarship application process, I was asked what I would tell someone going through the same experiences as me and I said, ‘Results come not from how people view you, but how you view yourself.’”
Mohamed: “I was messing up and dropped out of school at a young age. What am I going to do for the rest of my life? And I said, ‘NO’, and reached out to Elaine Trautwein, who put me in rehab and I did what I had to do. I didn’t even think I could afford to go to college and then I was nominated to receive this award and I’m going to make my mom proud.”
Hanifa: “Everyone deserves a second chance.” When you don’t have family, you find surrogates. She thanked those who supported her by saying, “You’re like a mother to me. You never left my side. You helped me grow into the person I was supposed to be.”
Alinah: “I had a lot of struggles, but I want to talk about all the great things that happened to me along the way. The great things are in the form of people, like Ms. Rascoe. [PWC Community Services] She believed in me. She’s reliable. She’s faithful, and I want to thank her for listening to me. You should always talk to somebody.
