GRAYSON COUNTY, Va. – This week should’ve been the last week of class for Grayson County Public School students.
Thanks to weather delays, their last day is now May 31st.
But with the negative, there is the positive.
Despite a year of hardships, seniors there have received over $1,000,000 in scholarships, a higher number than normal.
“It‘s been really chaotic,: said Adam Pennington, a senior. ”Like with the hurricane and missing due to a lot of snow and stuff, it‘s been really bad."
The school year started with Tropical Storm Helene flooding and damaging areas throughout the county.
After students got settled back into class, the winter hit hard, forcing the schools to close or delay for weeks on end.
“It‘s kind of hard catching up. Like we were really behind in most of our classes,” said Isabella Hill, another senior.
Despite the adversity Grayson County Public School students faced, their senior class is graduating with 100% success, and over 1 million dollars in scholarships.
“It‘s really going to help for our college because it is really expensive,” said Hill. “$13,000 I got. I won 5 scholarships.”
“I got a full ride to Wytheville,” Pennington added.
For seniors like Hill and Pennington, they said scholarships are heavily pushed in the school to pursue.
“It helps a lot,” Hill said.
School Counselor Angel Halsey said it‘s important to give these opportunities to students in rural areas like Grayson County.
She said she pushes for the students to apply, but they do all the work to earn them.
“I think this is the hardest working class I have ever seen as far as applying for scholarships. They really went after it,” Halsey said. “I hope this inspires our next class to come and do the same thing.”
She said she is beyond proud of this senior class and is excited to see what the future will hold for them.