Briana Hayes, a third year student at UGA from Baxley, Georgia, studying Health Promotion, established RISE in early 2019. RISE was started with the goal to provide rural students with a sense of community as the majority of the student population at UGA comes from urban areas. Briana hopes to ensure the inclusion and empowerment of minority students from small, rural towns like Baxley upon entering the crucial first few years of college.