Contact: Sharon Fisher
June 11, 2008

The best of the best in Southwest Virginia

Young people are often told to “aim higher.”  And that is exactly what students graduating from thirteen local high schools in southwest Virginia did this spring.

At a ceremony held at Mountain Empire Community College in May, 210 students were recognized as Appalachian Inter-Mountain Scholars (AIMS).  J. J. Kelly Principal Charles Collins called them the ‘best of the best.’

Many of the AIMS students will now take the opportunity to receive an AIMS Higher scholarship at MECC and continue the award at UVa-Wise, which provides free tuition at both colleges.

The original AIMS program began in Scott County with the support of Eastman.  The goal was to get more students to enroll in higher-level classes, have excellent attendance, and complete community service hours.     

According to Danny Dixon, who sheparded the program in the Scott County schools for many years, “The AIM Scholar program encourages young people to make the most of the educational opportunities available to them.  The result of them doing so can have a very positive and enduring impact on their lives and their communities.”  He added, “ I am very gratified to see MECC and UVa-Wise providing such support to the program and the young people of our region responding so enthusiastically." 

In 2003, Donna Stanley, executive director of the MECC Foundation, received funding from the Virginia Tobacco Commission to begin the AIMS Higher scholarship program for the AIMS students.   Stanley and MECC President Terrance Suarez encouraged the Wise, Lee, Norton and Dickenson school systems to adopt the AIMS program.

MECC’s scholarship program guarantees AIMS students will pay no tuition and fees, as long as they maintain full-time status and a 2.0 or higher grade point average.

In 2007, Chancellor David Pryor at UVa-Wise and President Suarez signed an agreement to continue the scholarships for AIMS Higher students graduating from MECC. In addition to guaranteeing free tuition, UVa-Wise also dually enrolls the MECC students and provides them with UVa-Wise student benefits.

Seeing the rapid growth of the AIMS  program at the thirteen high schools across MECC’s service region, MECC hosted the first region-wide recognition of the AIMS students.

“The chancellor, school superintendents and I have begun a dialogue on fostering a ‘culture of education’ in southwest Virginia,” stated Suarez.  “When I was growing up, it was not ‘if’ I was going to college, but where.”

To learn more about the AIMS program, parents should contact their local high school.  For information on the AIMS Higher program, contact Kristy Hall, Enrollment Services Director at MECC.

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