Mission of Hope Helps Send 11 to College
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Mission of Hope couldn’t have chosen a better guest speaker to honor the first batch of scholarship winners in the debut year of MOH’s Hope Scholars Program.

Joetta Brashear, 22, from Whitesburg in southeastern Kentucky, inspired the crowd by merely telling her story of becoming the first in her family to attend college.
The same is true of the 11 winners of the 2009 Hope Scholars Program.
Each student earned a $2,500 tuition scholarship.

At the dinner in London, Ky., the winners also learned that MOH would reward their hard work in the first year of college by supporting them with another $2,500 for their second year.

But the biggest applause came when MOH hand delivered to each winner a brand new laptop computer.

“Cheers went up in the room,” MOH Executive Director Emmette Thompson said.
“The students were just so grateful.”

For Brashear, who attended Morehead State and will earn double degrees in criminology and paralegal studies from Shawnee State in Ohio, the presentation reminded her of her own first laptop.

A graduate of Fleming-Neon High (now Letcher County Central), Brashear was accepted to Morehead State but didn’t own a laptop, a Morehead requirement.
Desperate, she turned to Mission of Hope.

Like the 11 Hope Scholars Program winners, Brashear attended one of the 26 elementary schools in Kentucky and Tennessee served by MOH. (MOH just completed its 12th annual Back to School Drive, serving 10,500 students in 26 Appalachian schools.)

When Brashear wrote a letter asking for help, MOH answered the call.
Brashear happened to be visiting her aunt in Knoxville -- MOH’s headquarters -- when she heard from MOH.

That day, Thompson took her shopping for a laptop and printer at a local computer store.
“I took a taxi from my aunt’s house and met Emmette Thompson,” she said.
“I’m not used to getting stuff like that. It was very overwhelming.”
When Mission of Hope asked her to speak at the Hope Scholars dinner, it was her turn to answer the call.

“She gave an incredible message of inspiration and challenge, to these students to go and ‘Live their Dreams,’” Thompson said.
“She shared passionately from her heart. We were all in tears by the time she finished.”

Said Brashear: “Mission of Hope is a wonderful organization.You couldn’t ask for a greater group of people.”

There are 11 new college freshmen who would agree.

HOPE SCHOLARS PROGRAM WINNERS

Mission of Hope presented each of the 11 students listed below a $2,500 scholarship and brand new laptop.

Kayla Bentley
Leslie County High; Hyden, Ky.
Samantha Brock
Harlan County High; Baxter, Ky.
Jamie Leigh Bunch
Jellico High; Jellico, Tenn.
Casey Burkhart
Owsley County High; Booneville, Ky.
Jessica Caldwell
Bell County High; Pineville, Ky.
Stephanie French
Hancock County High; Sneedville, Tenn.
Joseph Goad
Scott County High; Huntsville, Tenn.
Jackson Napier
Breathitt High; Jackson, Ky.
Tobey Norris
Clinch; Eidson, Tenn.
Kristen Sexton
Letcher County Central High;
Whitesburg, Ky.
Courtney Williams
Cumberland Gap High; Tenn.