Friday, Nov. 17 was a very good morning indeed for Kearney High School senior Bailey Love-Davis.

Ms. Love-Davis was one of just 105 students from the Kansas City region who were invited to the taping of a segment that morning for ABC’s nationally televised “GMA3: What You Need to Know” about how the local non-profit Great Jobs KC was supporting the college aspirations for deserving youth.

She arrived believing that she was just another audience member excited to meet special guests Tech N9ne and Eric Stonestreet. She left with a $50,000 college scholarship.

“When I heard that they were going to broadcast this segment about how Great Jobs KC was giving out a scholarship, I thought they just wanted people there to make the audience look full,” Love-Davis said. “Then Tech9 came out and was like, ‘You get $50,000! You get $50,000! You get $50,000!’ I started crying because it’s such a life-changing thing to be able to have all that paid for, especially when you have such big goals.”

Love-Davis already knew that she wanted to pursue a career as a dentist. She planned to save money by using an A+ Scholarship to attend a community college first. The Great Jobs KC scholarship means that she is instead going to study at the University of Missouri-Kansas City on a pre-dentistry and chemistry track.

The path to this point started when Love-Davis applied for a scholarship through Scholars KC, which provides scholarships, financial incentives, and support services for low- and modest-income students and adults to complete a postsecondary credit-bearing credential or degree. Beginning in 2022, KC Scholars broadened its programs by adding Great Jobs KC, a tuition-free job training program, life skills workshops, and career placement programming.

The expanded organization partnered with GMA3, an off-shoot of the “Good Morning America” program, to award about $5 million in scholarships this year to Kansas City-area students, according to the Great Jobs KC website.

“They’re changing the lives of thousands of people around Kansas City,” Love-Davis said. “Great Jobs KC is branching out to the younger generations now and making a difference that way.”

Celebrating after the fact with renowned rapper Tech N9ne and comedian Eric Stonestreet was icing on the cake for Love-Davis and her mom, Sonja Love.

“My mom was on the opposite side of the crowd as me, so I ran to her and she was crying and I was crying and everyone was saying, ‘Congratulations!’,” Love-Davis said. “I shook hands with Tech9 and Eric Stonestreet and took pictures with them.”

KPGZ News - Ray Weikal with the Kearney Missouri School District contributed to this story