Great Opportunity ScholarshipS Corporation

The Great Opportunity Scholarships Corporation (GOSC) is a 501(c)3 non-profit established in January 2021. The mission of GOSC is to provide opportunities that assist & empower the education of children. Our program offers a forum for improving reading, reading comprehension, and writing skills, as well as other educational enrichment.

Our first endeavor was to initiate a 10-week writing program in March of 2021 at the New Smyrna Beach Babe James Community Center After School Program which benefited grade level K-5 children. Three volunteers worked with 16 very willing students using the well-known “Handwriting Without Tears" Program to improve handwriting literacy. We continued our participation during that summer, adding reading to our writing program for six weeks of the Babe James Summer Camp. In addition, the GOSC sponsors our "Summer Camp Scholarship" which provides swimming lessons at the Southeast Volusia YMCA for ten to twelve children needing to develop and improve water safety life skills.

During the 2021-2022 school year we formalized our Language Arts Program at the Babe James Center. A group of five volunteers worked with 28 children, one to three afternoons per week on handwriting, reading comprehension and creative writing. As a result of this program, the writing and illustrations created by the children were compiled into a book on animals which was published. With funding from the GOSC, each child (author) was given a copy of the published book, “Animals and Me”. A celebration was held in August 2022 at the Babe James center at which the children shared their stories with parents and honored guests.

In October 2022, the children were invited to City Hall where they received a proclamation from Mayor Russ Owen in recognition of their work on the book “Animals and Me”.

During the 2023-2024 school year, we had 15 volunteers working with the children in the Babe James After School Program. The special project the children completed during this time was a published book about sea life in the Indian River Lagoon entitled "Wonders of the Indian River Lagoon."

In addition to the above, the GOSC constructed three Free Lending Libraries and placed them outside of the Boys and Girls Club and Chisholm Head Start School, both of which are located on Mary Avenue, and at the Babe James Center at the corner of Washington Street and Magnolia Avenue. All three lending libraries are restocked regularly. We are planning to add more Free Lending Libraries in the community as funding becomes available.