This year, 79 girls from all over Virginia attended Summer Bridge. That was an increase from 62 participants a year earlier and from 40 in 2010.

Increased enrollment was possible in part because of new scholarships offered, and those scholarships were a result of gifts from donors like Lee and a number of corporate sponsors.

"Summer Bridge Program would not happen without the generous support of our corporate and private donors," said Orion Rogers, dean of RU's College of Science and Technology, which hosts the program. "We are truly honored to be partners with supporters who include individuals and organizations dedicated to mentoring college-bound youth, community foundations, national companies and global corporations. We all share a common goal of enhancing science, technology and mathematics education."

This year, only 12 students paid tuition to attend Summer Bridge. The rest received scholarships. Dominion Resources's gift of $25,000 provided 31 scholarships.

"Dominion has been a sponsor of the Summer Bridge Program at Radford since 2008, bringing our total commitment to $100,000. We believe this is a sound investment in the future of students who attend," said Cynthia P. Balderson, philanthropy manager for Dominion and The Dominion Foundation. "Summer Bridge provides insight for the teens into the importance of an education, the academic challenges and rewards, and the opportunity to experience college life."

A gift from Novozymes funded the Novozymes Environmental Microbiology and Physiology Track, a tour of the Novozymes research laboratories and three scholarships.

"Novozymes feels it is important to contribute to the education of future professionals in our field," said Jennifer Havens, global communications manager for the company. "We hope our segment of the Summer Bridge Program helps spark passion for science in the young minds of these students. At Novozymes, we are very enthusiastic about what we do. By sharing that, we hope to inspire a new generation of scientists."

Other corporate sponsors this year were Project Discovery, Pentair Foundation-Aspen Motion Technologies, Greater Lynchburg Community Trust, Upward Bound Program of Martinsville and Altria Executives. Areva also hosted a field trip for Summer Bridge participants at its Lynchburg facility.

"Study in all of the sciences, whether physical sciences such as math and physics or life sciences such as biology and chemistry, provides a strong educational base which students can expand on," Lee said. "If they choose to go into the workforce after college, go to graduate school, go to medical school or even go to law school, they will have the background in critical thinking skills they need."