The Clarke County School District Board of Education Administrative Offices, located at 595 Prince Ave., are shown. The 2025-26 Clarke County School District Realizing Educational Achievement Can Happen (REACH) Georgia Scholarship Program admittees were recognized at the Dec. 11 CCSD BOE meeting, and REACH Scholar Aaliyah Fox, a Coile Middle School eighth grader, felt proud of her recognition. “It’s definitely something that my younger self wouldn’t have done or wouldn’t have been able to do, but I am really proud of myself for being able to even get up (in front of the BOE) and be able to smile instead of being scared,” Fox said. Photo from the ODYSSEY archives
The CCSD Board of Education recognized five CCSD eighth graders accepted into the REACH Georgia Scholarship Program at its Dec. 11 meeting.
The Clarke County School District Board of Education recognized the five CCSD eighth graders accepted into the Realizing Educational Achievement Can Happen (REACH) Georgia Scholarship Program at their Dec. 11 meeting.
Every year, five eighth graders from each participating Georgia school system are accepted into REACH, a needs-based scholarship and mentoring program. This year, the CCSD’s admittees are eighth graders Mary Jane Okoli from Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle School, Freidom Baldwin from Clarke Middle School, Aaliyah Fox and Sofia Ramirez-Ramirez from Coile Middle School and Dayanna Martinez from Hilsman Middle School.
An infographic shows information about the five students in the 2025-26 Clarke County School District Realizing Educational Achievement Can Happen (REACH) Georgia Scholarship Program cohort. The CCSD released the names of its REACH Scholars on Nov. 11, and REACH Scholar Aaliyah Fox, a Coile Middle School eighth grader, sees the program as a valuable resource to reach her future life goals. “(Being in REACH) definitely guarantees the fact that I’m going to college and I’m going to be able to make a stable living for myself and achieve a lot of the goals and dreams that I’ve had since I was little,” Fox said. Graphic by Emlyn McKinney
During high school, all admittees will receive both a REACH mentor and an academic coach to monitor their progress in school, help them develop career and college plans and maintain their eligibility to receive a $10,000 scholarship upon their graduation. The scholarship can be used at any Georgia university or college that accepts the Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally (HOPE) Scholarship.
“This scholarship is meant for first-(generation) college students (who) are not privileged to the parental knowledge of ‘What is (Free Application for Federal Student Aid)?’ ‘What is Common App?’ Mollie-Emma O’Neil, Coile Middle School seventh and eighth-grade counselor, said. “Providing students with that one-on-one (mentor) who has that knowledge (is) incredible to me.”
To qualify for the scholarship, students had to be nominated by a teacher or school counselor, complete the REACH Student Application and be interviewed by a panel featuring REACH committee members and district staff, with the finalists’ names submitted to REACH on Oct. 31. For CCSD REACH Scholar Coordinator Veronica Johnson, the program develops students’ confidence for the future college application process.
“What I absolutely love about (REACH) is it opens students’ eyes who never thought they had the possibility to go to college,” Johnson said. “I always tell our REACH scholars, ‘You’re just an eighth grader and you have scholarship money, so you are actually ahead of the curve.’”
Due to the scholarship only being awarded to first-generation college students, REACH Scholar Sofia Ramirez-Ramirez, a CMS eighth grader, who aspires to be a pathologist, draws inspiration from the prospect of honoring her family.
“I really want to study and be well educated in the future, because I know a lot of people (like) my family (who) didn’t really have the chance,” Ramirez-Ramirez said. “I want to do something different and help out my family.”
“What I absolutely love about (REACH) is it opens students’ eyes who never thought they had the possibility to go to college,”
— Veronica Johnson,
CCSD REACH Scholar Coordinator
