The Shine Project gives back to Valley students

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - For the past six years, this is a room where lives have changed, and all of it happens one sparkling beat at a time.

"I put them together, make them look really nice and pretty," Dorybell Gonzalez said.

Dory is one of dozens making jewelry for The Shine Project in downtown Phoenix. She's now a senior at Grand Canyon University and in the spring, she'll be the first in her family to graduate college.

"Being a first-generation college student, my parents are super proud and really excited for me," she said.

It's a moment she thanks The Shine Project for. It's a place that gave her a job and helped her find scholarships and inspiration.

"We're helping them become the next generation of entrepreneurs," Brittany Cottle said.

That's always been their mission, Brittany says. Creating a company and then a non-profit that's focused on selling jewelry and helping the students who make it.

"We have a couple of students, we know they're trying to be neonatal nurses, so we're trying to connect t hem with the right people in the community to help them figure out which way to go," Cottle said.

And the word is spreading.

"I originally found The Shine Project through FOX 10," Jasmine Wolen said.

Since then, Jasmine has graduated from The Art Institute of Phoenix with a degree in fashion design.

"We're all in school and we all push each other in that way," she said.

Motivation to conquer the odds and continue to rise one beautiful bead at a time.

"I want to be successful, I want to grow, I want to keep learning," Gonzalez said.

The Shine Project
http://www.theshineproject.com