Programs

A natural outgrowth and expansion for the continuation of the highly successful Dr. Betty Shabazz Delta Academy: Catching the Dreams of Tomorrow, Delta GEMS was created to catch the dreams of African American at-risk adolescent girls aged 14-18. Delta GEMS provides the framework to realize those dreams by performing specific tasks that foster a CAN-DO attitude. The goals for Delta GEMS are:

• To instill the need to excel academically

• To provide tools that enable girls to sharpen and enhance their skills to achieve high levels of academic success

• To assist girls in proper goal setting and planning for their futures in high school and beyond

• To create compassionate, caring, and community-minded young women by actively involving them in service learning and community service opportunities.

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The Delta GEMS framework comprises five major components (Scholarship, Sisterhood, Show Me the Money, Service, and Infinitely Complete), forming a roadmap for college and career planning. Topics within the five major components are designed to provide interactive lessons and activities that provide opportunities for self-reflection and individual growth.

The Delta GEMS participate in monthly Saturday sessions throughout the school year.

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Lisa Brooks

Chair, Delta GEMS

The Dr. Betty Shabazz Delta Academy was created out of an urgent sense that bold action was needed to save our young females (ages 11-14) from the perils of academic failure, low self-esteem, and crippled futures. Delta Academy provides an opportunity for local Delta chapters to enrich and enhance the education that our young teens receive in public schools across the nation.

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Specifically, we augment their scholarship in math, science, and technology, their opportunities to provide service in the form of leadership through service learning, and their sisterhood, defined as the cultivation service learning, and their sisterhood, defined as the cultivation and maintenance of relationships. A primary goal of the program is to prepare young girls for full participation as leaders in the 21st Century.

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The Gastonia Alumnae Chapter’s Delta Academy is in the form of Saturday sessions. The sessions occur monthly throughout the school year. Delta Academy participants take part in a variety of activities which often include computer training, self-esteem and etiquette workshops, field trips for science experiences and for college exposure, and special outings to cultural events, fancy dinners, museums, plays, and concerts.

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Dionna Graham

Chair, Delta Academy

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The EMBODI (Empowering Males to Build Opportunities for Developing Independence) program is designed to refocus the efforts of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, with the support and action of other major organizations, on the plight of African-American males. Both informal and empirical data suggest that the vast majority of African-American males continue to be in crisis and are not reaching their fullest potential educationally, socially, and emotionally. EMBODI is designed to address these issues through dialogue and recommendations for change and action. EMBODI addresses issues related to STEM education, culture, self-efficacy, leadership, physical and mental health, healthy lifestyle choices, character, ethics, relationships, college readiness, fiscal management, civic engagement, and service learning.

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Erica Berry & Marilyn Greene

Co-Chairs, EMBODI

The Jabberwock is a Scholarship Pageant that allows the Gastonia Alumnae Chapter to enrich the lives of deserving students, who otherwise may not have the opportunity for cultural enrichment through an unforgettable rite of passage into young adulthood and future success.

The Jabberwock gets its name from the Lewis Carroll poem, “Jabberwocky,” in the children’s classic, Through the Looking Glass, the sequel to Alice in Wonderland. Jabberwock has become one of the sorority’s most successful fundraising events across chapters.

The Gastonia Alumnae Chapter knows that our local high schools are full of students with extraordinary promise and natural abilities critical to success in the classroom and their communities. Our chapter seeks to celebrate these young participants before they graduate—each will strive for a scholarship granted at the end of the pageant.

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Courtney Lowery & Dione Brown

Co-Chair, Jabberwock

Every winter, GAC hosts a local College Day Fair in partnership with our D9 brothers and sisters and other education advocates in our community, such as H.E.L.P (Higher Education Literacy Provider). Students from Gaston County, the surrounding areas and their parents and families are welcome. At the College Day Fair, they learn more about the college application process, financing college through grants and loans, and strategies for succeeding in high school and beyond. Colleges that have participated in the past include:

• South Carolina State University

• Bennett College

• Gardner-Webb University

• Appalachian State University

• Cleveland Community College

• Columbia College

• Johnson C. Smith University

• University of Virginia

• Winston-Salem State University

• Norfolk State University

• North Carolina A&T State University

• Delaware State University

• Livingstone College

• Furman University

• Virginia State University

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Vanessa Ross & Priscilla Brewer

Co-Chair, College Day

Completed applications must be submitted by 

APPLICANTS MUST MEET ALL ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS:

• Be a high school senior planning to enroll in a four-year college or university

• Reside in Gaston County, attend a high school in Gaston County, and be in good standing to graduate by June 2026

• Have a minimum cumulative Grade Point Average of 2.75 on a 4.0 scale or 1.75 on a 3.0 scale

• Have applied for Fall 2026 admission/enrollment into a four-year college or university

• Be actively engaged in the community and/or school

• Have recent SAT/ACT scores as well as 1st Semester Final Grades

• NOT be a child of a parent affiliated with the Gastonia Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

 

 

For questions regarding our scholarship program, please reach out to: scholarship@gastoniaalumnaedst.org

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Shanti Hinkle

Chair, Scholarship