Project Discovery teams with ACT to help students during COVID

"The pandemic has taken away my job as well as my education." "I already suffer through anxiety and mental illness and the pandemic has made it worse." "I am thankful for any opportunity you guys can provide as my family is struggling." These are the sentiments of TC Williams students, but probably seem familiar to many children across the country. The COVID-19 pandemic struck hard and deep among Alexandria's students, and among the many organizations looking to lend a hand early on was the Project Discovery of Alexandria Advisory Board.

The Board is a non-profit, community-based group that supports the Project Discovery of Alexandria club based out of TC Williams High School. While the club helps students who are the first in their families to go on to secondary education through scholarships, mentoring, workshops and campus visits, the Board's job is different. Conducting fundraisers to supplement funding to the club and providing guidance for the curriculum, the Board works in tandem with the City of Alexandria's Center for Children and Families to help TC students achieve their educational dreams after high school.

As with all things in the past year, however, the Board had to adjust how they went about their support. Parks closed? That meant no ability for their largest fundraiser, the Spring Walkathon, to take place in 2020. And all other methods to either gather or hold traditional events were not available. But help came in the form of ACT for Alexandria, a non-profit in the City that truly lived up to its mission statement to "improve the lives of Alexandrians by turning ideas into action and resources into results."

ACT for Alexandria received funding from the federal CARES Act signed into law in March of 2020, and offered organizations the chance to apply for money to support their causes. In the fall of 2020, the Board applied and was granted $10,000 to use toward helping Project Discovery of Alexandria club members. This meant current TC students and Project Discovery alumni currently enrolled at an institution were able to get help they desperately needed. Board members gathered feedback and, based on this, established the biggest needs shared by students: technology, PPE, school supplies, and food. These were broken into segments and students were required to write an essay stating how COVID affected their lives and what they required. The details they shared were heartbreaking. Some were breadwinners in their household who had to juggle suddenly not having employment and now attending virtual school. Others had parents who lost their jobs. Some had to compete for resources with their siblings. Or deal with faulty, unreliable technology. Or simply struggle to maintain their mental health.

In the end, all students who applied got their requests met...and it exceeded their wildest dreams. Sarah Marfo, a junior at Norfolk State University and Project Discovery almunus, wrote, "Your graciousness helped me out tremendously! Thank you for always helping and supporting me." Overwhelmingly, the recipients of the Project Discovery Resiliency Fund awards were appreciative, gracious, and thankful that someone made the effort to help them in their time of need. Members of the Project Discovery of Alexandria Advisory Board were just happy to have the opportunity, thanks to ACT for Alexandria, and the ability to make a significant change in these young people's lives.

For more on Project Discovery of Alexandria:

https://www.alexandriava.gov/P...

https://pdadvisoryalexandria.c...

https://www.facebook.com/frien...