09/21/2026
POCS STUDENT SPOTLIGHT!
Senior Lily Farris, from Bridgeville, DE, has been a Positive Outcomes Charter School student since seventh grade. POCS has provided Lily with many things, but perhaps nothing has been more impactful than the opportunities available through POCS’s partnership with Jobs For Delaware Graduates (JDG), which has helped inspire Lily to advance her academic career as a dual enrollment student at Del Tech Community College. She currently takes college-level courses such as Fundamentals of Functions, Business 101, and Composition on Del Tech’s Dover and Georgetown campuses while also fulfilling her POCS requirements.
When she was a middle school student, Lily had a front-row seat witnessing her sister Shelby compete in career readiness events and, by 9th grade, Lily, along with two other POCS classmates, presented a business plan for a nonprofit they created called SEEUS (Students for Educational Equity in the US) at the state level, winning first place, and then 4th place at a national career-based competition in St. Louis that year. Lily’s sophomore year was also rewarding, with first-place state recognition in employability skills, which earned her a trip to a second national competition in Indianapolis, and was capped off by POCS being recognized as JDG Chapter of the Year.
In 2025-26, Lily became a state officer for JDG as VP of Leadership Development and launched an initiative for a series of leadership workshops in Delaware. Lily has been the POCS Chapter President of the JDG for three years and will be running for state President of the JDG in early December at its leadership conference.
Incredibly, Lily is the founder of two nonprofits: The Lily Project, which she started at age five which aims to spread seeds of kindness, teaches youth how to be actively engaged in their communities, and develops service project leadership. She is also the founder of the aforementioned SEEUS and, in 2026, the Billie Jean Foundation recognized Lily as a regional honoree and scholarship recipient for her work, which has aimed to help youth with disabilities come together to try sports.
Looking back at her time at POCS, which began during the COVID-19 pandemic, Lily is glad she decided to make sacrifices such as attending a smaller school and committing to a 45-minute commute to and from POCS each day. When asked what Positive Outcomes can be for future students, Lily says, “There is so much about Positive Outcomes because it tailors its education directly to students and can provide so much in the way of career readiness opportunities. What you might find here is just so completely different. They can find a home. ”
In her free time, Lily enjoys swim team in the summer and private vocal lessons. A sports lover at heart, she hopes to attend a college that offers zoo science as a major - Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, is her # 1 choice - but one that also has a football team she can root for.
Jobs for Delaware Graduates Delaware Charter Schools Network Delaware Technical Community College
