The Roanoke Chapter of The Girl Friends, Inc. is proud to announce that Ronald L. O. Williams, the chapter’s nominee for the 2026 Girl Friends Fund, Inc. 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 a four-year institution.
Ronald is a 2026 graduate of Roanoke County’s Hidden Valley High School, where he was enrolled in Dual Enrollment and Advanced Placement courses. His school-based extracurricular activities included: Track & Field team captain, Engineering Club treasurer, Hack Club officer, and Logic Puzzles of America Club member. Ronald also serves as a member of Sweet Union Baptist Church’s Communications Ministry.
During his sophomore, junior and senior years at Hidden Valley, Ronald was also enrolled at the Burton Center for Arts & Technology. There, he studied in a three-year Computer Information Technology & Networking program where he gained college credits and acquired the CompTIA A+ Certification, the foundational industry credential for entry-level IT and help desk careers.
Ronald, son of Ronald and Lorena Williams, will enter Virginia Tech in the fall as an Engineer major in Tech’s 4+1 Master’s Degree program, focusing on cyber-physical or embedded-systems Computer Engineering. His career goal is to become a Hypersonic Systems Engineer or an Embedded Systems Engineer.
Recipients of the Girl Friends Fund Scholarship are top high school seniors nominated by Girl Friends, Inc. chapters across the country. Ronald is the Roanoke Chapter’s 16th Girl Friends Fund Scholarship nominee to receive the award. Each year the chapter seeks as applicants, qualified high school seniors from the Roanoke and New River valleys, and the Lynchburg area.
For 38 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.
In additional scholarship news, The Roanoke Chapter of the Girl Friends Scholarship, in the amount of $1,000, has been awarded to Aniyah Fox, a 2026 graduate of Salem High School. Aniyah, a member of the National Honor Society and the National Society of High School Scholars who was enrolled in Advanced Placement and Dual Enrollment courses, balanced academics with her love of sports. A three-sport athlete – volleyball, basketball and lacrosse – at Salem High, Aniyah also served as a volunteer coach in various middle school and summer programs.
Aniyah will attend Bluefield University in the fall and major in Exercise Science. Her career goal is to become a Registered Dietician. Aniyah, who has been recruited to play women’s basketball at Bluefield, is the daughter of Victor and Tasha Hardeman.
The Roanoke Chapter’s Girl Friends Memorial Scholarship, in the amount of $750, has been awarded to Kayla Robinson, a 2026 graduate of William Fleming High School. Kayla served as president of Fleming’s Student Council Association from 2023 to the end of the 2025-26 school year. During her terms as president, she spoke on numerous occasions, including a meeting with the Governor of Virginia. Kayla maintained a strong GPA while balancing leadership responsibilities, planning and executing schoolwide events, and working a part-time retail job after school.
Kayla will attend Virginia State University in the fall and major in Kinesiology. She is the daughter of Jamal and Rhonda Robinson.
President of the Roanoke Chapter of The Girl Friends, Inc. is Carolyn Patterson; Vice President is Rhonda Poindexter. Chair of the chapter’s Scholarship Committee is Thelma Haynesworth.
