On Wednesday, Aug. 28, William & Mary formally welcomed the incoming Class of 2028 during the annual tradition of Opening Convocation at the historic Wren Building. Among the incoming freshman class are two students from Southside Virginia, Blair Dickens ’28 of Emporia and Jaden Grant ’28 of South Boston, who have been chosen to receive the selective Beales Family Scholarships for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Dickens received the Harriett Pittard Beales ’34 Scholarship and Grant received the Walter R. Beales III ’66 Scholarship.

These merit-based scholarships provide tuition assistance to first-year students from Southside Virginia, honoring Harriett Pittard Beales and her son Walter R. Beales III for their lifetime of service to the community. Recipients are chosen based on academic performance, extracurricular community activities and service, outstanding character and other personal achievements.

Blair Dickens ’28

Dickens, a 2024 graduate of Greensville County High School in Emporia and The Governor’s School of Southside Virginia, is described by her teachers as a “force for good” through her multifaceted involvement and leadership. Dickens plans to pursue a pre-medicine track at William & Mary and is eager to engage with the university community.

“When I think of becoming a doctor,” Dickens says, “I know I want to be someone that can help everyone in my community — to do that well, I need to understand so many different perspectives. Attending William & Mary will help me with this goal by providing me a community with different perspectives and backgrounds that I can learn from.”  

In high school, she founded multiple service organizations, actively participated in her school’s National Beta Club  and Rotary Interact club, and received recognition for her work through the Miss Virginia Star program. 

“I’m so grateful to the Beales family for their generosity, providing these opportunities to students from Southside like me. This scholarship will help me flourish at William & Mary by giving me less of a financial burden and creates a path for me to help others.”

Jaden Grant ’28

Grant is a 2024 graduate of Halifax County High School in South Boston where he was a trusted peer mentor and student leader. Since fourth grade, he has been an active member of his community’s 4H program, serving as a teen leader and tech changemaker. 

“I love STEM subjects, and I love to work with numbers,” Grant says. “Analyzing and comprehending large amounts of data fascinates me and attending William & Mary will allow me to gain experience with creating algorithms, coding and computer software. I’m also looking forward to the research opportunities and to possibly study abroad.”

Grant is enthusiastic about joining the William & Mary community, where he can further explore his academic interests to study data science or computer science and his unique hobbies, which include unicycling.

“The Beales Scholarship makes it easier for my family and me to pay for my higher education and provides me a clearer path to graduate, furthering my career. This opportunity will allow me to more fully enjoy my time at William & Mary and I am very grateful to the Beales family.”

The Beales family has established two scholarships at William & Mary. The first honors the late Harriett Pittard Beales ’34 of Boydton, Virginia, who taught high school and was involved in lifelong service to her community in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, in many ways. Over her 100 years of life, she constantly gave back to others, including by mentoring young people, through her activities in historic preservation and by serving as the organist at her church for more than six decades. During her time as an undergraduate at William & Mary, she chaired the Women’s Honor Council, served as vice president of the Women’s Student Government and was also crowned May Queen as a senior.

Established in 1984 by her sons, Walter Beales ’66 and Randolph Beales ’82, on the 50th anniversary of her graduation, the Harriett Pittard Beales ’34 Scholarship perpetuates Mrs. Beales’s love of William & Mary and continues her legacy of mentoring young people. Since its establishment, the scholarship has already assisted over two dozen entering first-year students from all over Southside Virginia that includes 12 counties and the City of Emporia.

The Walter R. Beales III ’66 Scholarship was created in 2016 in Mr. Beales’s honor by his brother, Judge Randolph A. Beales, a member of the Class of 1982 and a judge on the Court of Appeals of Virginia as well as the former Attorney General of Virginia. Walter Beales, an attorney who has practiced law in Southside Virginia for over 30 years, is also deeply involved in his community of Boydton and Mecklenburg County and has long believed in giving back. He frequently keeps in contact with scholarship recipients over the years as a mentor and friend — well after their graduation from William & Mary.

Founded in 1693, William & Mary is the Alma Mater of the Nation, educating leaders and public servants for over three centuries. William & Mary prides itself on providing a tight­knit liberal arts community while also affording the opportunities of large, modern research universities. With just under 7,000 undergraduate and 3,000 graduate students enrolled, the university was named in the top 10 public universities for internships for the fourth year in a row by the Princeton Review. William & Mary graduates who pursue careers in finance, consulting and tech are among the highest earners in the industry when compared to graduates from the university’s peer institutions, according to the Wall Street Journal.