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The S. Delois Mayes Scholarship Foundation recently announced its 2022 scholarship winners.

The foundation awarded four Suffolk Public Schools students, Snow Chen, Sydney Ellis, Skylar Galloway and Evelyn Taliaferro.

Chen, a graduate of King’s Fork High School, received a $4,000 scholarship and will attend the University of Virginia in the fall.

Ellis, a graduate of Nansemond River High School, received a $4,000 scholarship and will attend Hampton University in the fall.

Galloway, a graduate of Nansemond River High School, received a $4,000 scholarship and will attend Virginia Tech in the fall.

Taliaferro, a graduate of Nansemond River High School, received a $4,000 scholarship and will attend Princeton University in the fall. Taliaferro is also the first applicant to ever receive a perfect score on her essay.

The S. Delois Mayes Scholarship Foundation was established in 2013 as a memorial to Shontoyia (“Toyia”) Delois Mayes, who died in a car accident in 2002. Mayes moved to Virginia in 1997 from Los Angeles to attend Old Dominion University. Despite numerous obstacles, she graduated from ODU with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 2000.

Education was extremely important to Mayes, and she pursued it vigorously in an effort to position herself to assist others. Her dream was to write a book as a platform to reach out to teenagers and young adults who may have faced obstacles similar to those she faced and to encourage them to persevere and pursue their education.

The same ideals shape the mission of the S. Delois Mayes Scholarship Foundation. The foundation’s goal is to annually grant scholarship awards to Suffolk seniors.

For more information, visit sdmscholarshipfoundation.com.