OHIO STATE AWARDS PROJECT EXCELLENCE SCHOLARSHIP

   COLUMBUS -- Though Bryan Payne, a senior from Surrattsvile High School in Clinton, Md., has never visited The Ohio State University, he is enthusiastic about becoming a Buckeye this fall.

   Payne has been awarded a renewable four-year, full-ride scholarship from Ohio State through Project Excellence, a scholarship program founded in 1987 by syndicated columnist Carl T. Rowan for African-American high school seniors living in the Washington, D.C., area. Rowan started Project Excellence to combat negative peer pressure felt by black students who excel academically. The program awards students who succeed by rising above stereotypes and negative influences.

   “My first reaction was to thank God,” said Payne, who plans to pursue studies leading to a career in computer animation. “I was very surprised that I got the scholarship from the school I actually wanted to go to. Any school could have given the scholarship to me, but to get it from the school I wanted -- I was just thrilled.”

   Payne and other Project Excellence scholarship recipients are to be honored Friday (5/14) in a ceremony at the Capital Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C.

   Students are nominated by their high schools. Each high school can nominate four students: three for outstanding achievement in academics and the use of spoken and written English, and one for greatest progress in academics and in speaking and writing. Scholarship recipients are chosen by a panel of Project Excellence judges, who match nominees with universities providing scholarship funding.

   “It’s a great opportunity for African-American youth to explore and consider very high-caliber institutions and be able to attend those institutions with funding based on academic merit,” said Barbara Rich, interim vice provost for minority affairs at Ohio State. The Office of Minority Affairs coordinates the scholarship program for Ohio State.

   Payne, who will make his first visit to campus this summer for freshman orientation, said he has heard a lot about Ohio State’s diverse student population and is looking forward to experiencing it firsthand.

   “I know there are a lot of different types of people at Ohio State,” he said. “Where I live right now, blacks are in the majority and I want to experience meeting new people, making friends and having fun. That’s what I would really like.”

   Since the program’s inception 12 years ago, 2,273 high school graduates have been awarded more than $55 million in scholarships. This year more than 100 black seniors will be honored with college scholarships totaling more than $3 million from colleges and universities including Cornell, Rutgers and Vanderbilt universities. Ohio State has awarded six Project Excellence scholarships since 1993.

   Michele Goforth, a graduate student in the College of Education, was Ohio State’s first Project Excellence Scholar. After graduation, she said she plans to return to her hometown of Prince George’s County, Md., to teach elementary school.

   “Project Excellence helped get me here and Ohio State gave me an education, both socially and academically, and I’m very grateful for that,” Goforth said. “The Office of Minority Affairs services are very good, there is the NAACP chapter on campus and Ohio State is the only university in the U.S. to have all nine black Greek organizations on campus.”

Contact: Barbara Rich, Minority Affairs, (614) 292-4355