The Roanoke Chapter of The Girl Friends, Inc. is proud to announce that Alaysia Oakes, the chapter’s nominee for the 2022 National Girl Friends Fund Scholarship, has been selected as one of 15 recipients of the national award.
The Girl Friends Fund provides awards of $1,500 annually for up to four academic years to qualified high school seniors who have been accepted to four-year colleges and universities.
She is a 2022 graduate of Heritage High School in Lynchburg, VA, where she is a member of the Principal’s Cabinet, Student Council Association, Environmental Science Club, and the National Honor Society. She participates in school sports, including track, basketball, and volleyball, and in her community, she volunteers with the Special Olympics, Healthy Kids Run Program, and Parkway Mission.
Alaysia will attend Stanford University, where she plans to major in econometrics and quantitative economics, and minor in communications. She is the daughter of Michael Oakes and Sherrell Preston and the stepdaughter of Maurice Preston.
Recipients of the Girl Friends Fund Scholarship are top high school seniors nominated by Girl Friends chapters across the country. Alaysia is the 12th Girl Friends Fund Scholarship recipient nominated by the Roanoke Chapter. Each year the chapter seeks applicants who are qualified high school seniors from the Roanoke and New River valleys and the Lynchburg area.
For 34 years, The Girl Friends Fund, Inc. has fulfilled a philanthropic role in the form of service and financial support to Black American students across the country. The Roanoke Chapter has been recognized consistently as one of the top contributing chapters to The Girl Friends Fund.
This year, the Roanoke Chapter awarded its local Chapter of Girl Friends Scholarship, in the amount of $1,000 to Janhya Henderson, a 2022 graduate of Roanoke’s William Fleming High School. As a member of Fleming’s varsity basketball and volleyball teams, she graduated with an Advanced Studies Diploma. She served as the senior representative on the Student Council and was a member of Future Business Leaders of America. In the Roanoke community, she has volunteered in homeless shelters and nursing homes.
Janhya plans to attend Howard University in the fall and major in business management. Her goal is to use the business skills she acquires in college to open her own real estate firm. She is the daughter of Jamie and Sharonda Henderson.
The Roanoke Chapter’s GF Memorial Scholarship, in the amount of $750 was awarded to Treya Gunn, a graduate of William Fleming High School and the Roanoke Valley Governor’s School. At Fleming, Treya served as president of the Student Council Association and student executive of the PTA, was a member of the NAACP Youth Council, Future Business Leaders of America, and National Honor Society, and was also active in a number of other activities in her school and community.
Treya, the daughter of Heather Gunn, plans to attend James Madison University in the fall and major in biomedical science, with a pre-dental minor. Her goal is to become a dentist and open her own clinical practice.
