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A litany of encouragement, information, and uplifting speeches is how the Realizing Educational Achievement Can Happen (REACH) Georgia virtual day began Feb. 17. Middle and high school students, along with their teachers, mentors, and parents, learned about various aspects of attending college.

Sponsored by the University of North Georgia (̨Íåswag), the three-hour event was divided into 30-minute segments featuring ̨Íåswag staff from admissions, financial aid, and registration.

REACH Georgia is a needs-based mentoring and scholarship program providing promising students the academic, social, and financial support to graduate from high school and achieve post-secondary success.

̨Íåswag Gainesville, in partnership with REACH Georgia, hosted an in-person event in 2018. Dr. Richard Oates and Shannon Shockley helped us pull the event off at ̨Íåswag, Jennifer Herring, special assistant to the vice president of ̨Íåswag's Gainesville Campus, said. She and Sandy Ott, executive director of ̨Íåswag's Blue Ridge Campus, later realized that a virtual event would provide even more students the critical information they'd been missing. In 2021, the program was held virtually for the first time.

It was important for me to be part of the day because I wanted to showcase that we are all capable of being leaders.

Nathalia Ingles

Junior pursuing a degree in communication with a concentration in public relations

Nathalia Ingles, a junior pursuing a degree in communication with a concentration in public relations, was one of those who assisted.

"It was important for me to be part of the day because I wanted to showcase that we are all capable of being leaders," Ingles said. "I also wanted to showcase that part of the college experience is getting involved, which is as easy as finding a club that interests the student, and that opens a lot of doors at ̨Íåswag."

One of the event's panels focused on demystifying professors, who many students believe are "big and scary."

"It's great to see both academic affairs and student affairs wanting to help," Herring said. "Engaging with REACH scholars lets them know they have opportunities and there's a place for them at ̨Íåswag."

Ott said response to this year's event was tremendous.

"We had participants from across the great state of Georgia," Ott said. "The attendees were so engaged and so grateful for the program support from across ̨Íåswag and from the Georgia Student Finance Commission."

REACH serves all 180 K-12 school systems across Georgia and funded more than $36 million in scholarships.