“I’ve got a chance to set the standard high enough so that my sister and my kids and generations after me will see that and want to achieve that.”

These are the words of Sharnell, a senior who will be attending the University of Arkansas in the fall after graduating this month – the first in her family to go to college. She has been enrolled at St. Agnes Academy in Memphis, TN thanks to the help of the Memphis Opportunity Scholarship Trust (MOST), a program that provides partial private school scholarships to students.

MOST is a privately funded, nonprofit organization that helps families in Memphis afford to send their kids to private and parochial schools. The organization is supporting 537 students at about 70 local private schools. They have awarded scholarships to about 2,700 students since it started in 1998.

Sixteen graduating seniors who received scholarships were honored this week at a reception. Trent Williamson, MOST founding executive director, encouraged them to make the most of the their upcoming college education.

“In many ways, you are the hope of the future of Memphis. It’s your obligation to go out and give back,” he said.

Read more about this scholarship program and how it is changing lives here.