Promise of scholarships made 7 years ago to Gwinnett high school students pays off

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Seven years ago the STEPP Foundation picked two middle school classrooms at nearby Moore Middle School and told the kids if they hit certain criteria, they would have guaranteed scholarship money when they graduate high school.

Now, 50 students are seeing their hard work pay off.

Pamela Campbell said her daughter may not be the college-bound high school graduate that she is today if it wasn’t for a helping hand along the way.

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“It’s priceless, what they gave her. They gave her a chance at life,” Campbell told Channel 2 Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson.

Graduate Shyanne Davis said college was never really on her mind because it seemed so out of reach for her family.

“I knew that at the time she wasn’t gonna be able to be like, ‘okay, here’s the money to go to college,’” Davis said.

Now she’s headed to Georgia Gwinnett College to study education with $1,000 she earned from the nonprofit STEPP Foundation.

“That’ll help her put money in for me to go to college. And I know that I want to go learn,” Davis said.

Channel 2 Action News was there in 2017 when Bernard Watson made a promise to two classrooms at Moore Middle School.

He told them if they finished high school with good grades, behavior, and attendance, there would be money waiting for them when they graduate.

“I invested in these kids because I believed in them and I believed in their potential, probably before some of them even believed in themselves,” Watson said.

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Seven years later, after check-ins every year, the students in the program earned the thousand dollars each to get started with college.

They money won’t pay for everything, but parents in the program said it helped kids get in the mindset for success.

“It’s somebody out there that’s saying, ‘Hey, if we do this together, you’re not alone,’” Campbell said.

At a ceremony this weekend hosted by Channel 2′s Lori Wilson, the scholars will be celebrated for their work as they prepare for college.

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