The newly established access program &uot;It Might as Well be You&uot; has selected its first group of scholarship recipients.

A reception for the students will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Ohio University Southern's Bowman Auditorium.

The immediate goal of the &uot;It Might as Well be You&uot; program is to provide scholarships for graduating Ironton seniors who qualify for financial assistance.

Long-term goals include the establishment of programs and services to motivate and encourage elementary, middle, and high school students to stay in school and plan to attend college.

The Ironton City School Foundation generously donated $25,000 to this new scholarship program.

This amount was matched by the KnowledgeWorks Foundation of Cincinnati, thus creating a $50,000 scholarship endowment fund.

The students receiving the &uot;It Might as Well be You&uot;

scholarships for 2002 are: Abbey Bentley; Randy Blair; Jesse Collins; Ashley Fugett; Jessica Gillum; James Gordon; Leanna Hankins; Crystal Justice; Tom Lutz; Rachel McClellan; Charles Murnahan; Matt Nierman; Christina Norris; Laura Oakes; Hugh Donald Scott; and Brittany White. From staff reports