Greene County High School grads awarded $120,000 by Thillen Education Foundation

Published 12:01 pm Thursday, July 21, 2022

Students attending Greene County High School have the opportunity to earn financial assistance during their four years of high school to help them get started in continuing their education, beginning a career, or military service.  

The earned financial assistance termed “Dave Dollars “become real dollars at graduation from GCHS. Every student in the class of 2022 earned some “Dave Dollars” totaling $50,000. During their senior year, students can also apply for “Next Step Funds” as college scholarships or “Career Start Packages.” The total awarded for “Next Step Funds” was $70,000. The financial assistance awarded to the 84 students in the class of 2022 totaled $120,000.

More than 200 donors made the unprecedented amount of financial assistance possible.  The financial assistance is part of an overall Career Coaching Program that began four years ago as a partnership between Greene College & Career Academy and Thillen Education Foundation.  This partnership is based on community volunteers called “Career Coaches” who stay with their assigned 3 or 4 students for four years.  When school starts again in the fall, there will be a total of 130 career coaches working with the 450 students in GCHS.  The plan is to continue the program with similar or greater financial assistance for each GCHS graduating class in perpetuity.   

The career coaches and school staff congratulate all award recipients as they take the next step in their plans:

Next Step Scholarship Award Recipients Plan to Attend:

Albany State

Athens Technical College

Augusta University 

Georgia Southern

North GA Technical College

University of Georgia 

University of North Georgia

Wesleyan College

 

Military Recipients Plans:

National Guard

U.S. Air Force Reserve

 

Career Start Plans:

Photography Business 

Clothing Brand Business

 

Special Needs Enrichment:

Extra Special People (ESP) Camp

The Thillen Education Foundation, Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit created for the sole purpose of providing financial assistance for all students participating in the Career Coaching Program at Greene College and Career Academy at GCHS where the total minority enrollment is 90%, and 98% of students live below the poverty line.  The website is www.thilleneducationfoundation.com.