08/26/2026
Dolly Parton once found out that around 35% of students in her home county were dropping out of school.
So she did something about it.
Through her Dollywood Foundation, Dolly launched the Buddy Program for 7th and 8th graders in Sevier County, Tennessee.
The idea was simple:
Choose a buddy.
Promise to help each other stay in school.
And if BOTH of you eventually graduated, Dolly would give each student $500.
For kids from struggling families, that was a huge incentive.
And it worked.
The dropout rate for those classes reportedly fell from around 35% to just 6%.
Dolly didn’t just sing about where she came from.
She invested in the kids growing up there too.
One promise.
One buddy.
And hundreds of students given another reason to stay in school.