VALDOSTA – Two Valdosta High School students are the recipients of the elite Horatio Alger State Scholarship.

Seniors Chasidy Moore and Cierra Williams will receive $10,000 divvied out during the course of their college career.

Williams plans to attend Oglethorpe University to begin her journey as an emergency-room physician. 

Moore hopes to open her own nonprofit one day and, while she knows what university she will attend, she’s keeping it secret as she plans to announce it to her family in May.

What sets these young ladies apart is not only their academic success and lofty goals for the future; it’s that they beat the odds to get where they are today.

Moore was put in foster care at the age of 4 and then grew up with different family members serving as legal guardians. She survived abuse and considered her application process for this scholarship to be therapeutic.

“I realized I was still hurt and broken,” Moore said. “Writing about it helped me a lot more than giving me the money. It helped me let out stuff from my past and let me heal from it. I’ve overcome feeling abandoned and abused.”

Similarly, Williams is an abuse survivor placed into the custody of family members.

“I want to encourage others to speak out,” Williams said.

Each were placed with loving members of their respective families now and feel that it’s their difficult pasts that led them to wanting to strive for greatness.

Williams said her aunt inspired her and Moore said she feels the idea of the woman she will one day become inspires her.

Both ladies found out about the scholarship through the Student Mentoring in Life and Education program, better known as SMILE. The program guides students into a life of great accomplishments.

To be a part of the program, a student has to be “the best of the best” and represent SMILE in a positive way. Williams and Moore said they have come to think of SMILE as a family and feel it will help them as they soon enter collegiate life.

The idea of leaving for larger cities for Moore, a Valdosta native, and Williams, an Alma native, for college is exciting, they said.

“I’m looking forward to seeing something different and becoming a new person,” Williams said.

For Moore, the idea of leaving has worried her.

“I’m learning to take care of just me and not my family,” Moore said. “I worried maybe I should stay here and I’m having to let go of that. I have to trust other people will step up.”

Desiree Carver is a reporter at the Valdosta Daily Times. She can be reached at (229) 244-3400 ext. 1215.