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������������’s Take Stock in Children (TSIC) program has garnered the Take Stock Luminary Award and Gold Level of Excellence again this year. According to Dr. Matthew Hughes, ������������ TSIC Executive Director, “Since Mrs. Debra Perdue joined ������������ nearly five years ago, the Take Stock in Children program has emerged as one of the top performing programs in the state.  Under Mrs. Perdue’s leadership, ������������’s program excelled in achieving its performance goals and has been awarded Gold status the past four years and Luminary status – the top award level – the past three years.  I am very proud of the work that Mrs. Perdue and all of the program mentors have done in making postsecondary education a reality for many young people who may not have had the opportunity without the Take Stock in Children program.”

“TSIC affiliates achieve Silver, Gold, and Luminary status by fulfilling the Take Stock Balanced Scorecard criteria. The 100-point scorecard outlines goals per pillar of student success, including mentoring, college readiness, program data, and the TSIC compliance standards. Affiliates recognized with the Gold award achieved 90 points or more and Luminary awards are for the overachievers who will only settle for a perfect score”, says Jillian Hasner, President and CEO of TSIC.

A core requirement of the TSIC program is students are matched with a mentor when entering the program their freshman year and meet with their mentor each week throughout high school. Mentoring is a key to TSIC’s success by involving another caring adult that can provide an alternate perspective to their mentee. In addition to mentoring, the scholars meet with their TSIC college success coach, Mrs. Perdue, multiple times per semester as well as attend college readiness workshops throughout the school year. Mentoring paired with the additional support systems propel the TSIC scholars to success. Upon high school graduation the student receives a two-year tuition scholarship to any public college or university in the state of Florida. The Florida Prepaid scholarships are provided by donations from educators, business leaders and others in the five county ������������ region. These donations are matched dollar for dollar by the Florida Legislature through the Stanley Tate Scholarship Tuition for At Risk Students (STAR) program.  Donations toward TSIC scholarships are accepted throughout the year and mentors are always being recruited for students. Anyone interested in donating toward TSIC scholarships should contact the ������������ Foundation at 850-718-2445 or /foundation. To become a volunteer mentor, contact Debra Perdue at 850-718-2428 or perdued@chipola.edu.