Sally Blackwelder had a vision to make a difference in the lives of children.  It was that passion that she channeled into the creation of Project Potential, a program designed to help keep kids in school and encourage them to go on to college.

“These kids don’t think they have any options,” she said.  “They are stuck.”

Five and a half years since its inception, Project Potential will have graduated 35 students from Hickory High School.  There are 74 students now in the program — 40 in high school — the rest in college, Blackwelder said.

Today, she will be presented with an honorary degree in humane letters, during Lenoir-Rhyne College’s pre-graduation exercise.  The award will be given in recognition of her humanitarian efforts in advancing educational opportunities in Catawba County.

“It’s a huge honor,” she said.  “I couldn’t believe it.  I still can’t believe it.”

Blackwelder and her husband, George, started Project Potential in the fall of 2002 after learning how many students aren’t given the opportunity to go to college.  She said the dropout rate in the Hickory Public School system is 32 percent among 16-year-olds. From then on, it became a personal mission of hers to make a difference for the betterment of the students and society.

“If we don’t educate the world, we’re crazy,” she said.

It is her belief that a larger effort needs to be made to ensure students receive a college education to spare younger generations from growing up in a society where two-thirds of the population is illiterate and uneducated.

“That’s unacceptable in the richest country in the world,” Blackwelder said.

She said the key to her program is mentoring.

They were each assigned a mentor to help cheer them on and pay for tutoring if needed.  Four of them graduated high school and went on to college with a $2,500 scholarship from Project Potential for the school of their choice.

“If we save five kids, or even one, we’re filling the gap,” she said.

The students selected for the program are not the straight-A students, she said.  Rather, they are the ones living in impoverished families.

“Through Project Potential, I can see the difference in a child’s life,” she said.

Two others will also be recognized at the event.  Mildred “Mickey” Clemmer Shuford of Hickory will receive the Trustee Award and Rev. Edwin Nosker Troutman of Winston-Salem will be given the honorary doctor of divinity degree.