PORTLAND — Maine Education Services recently announced Devyn Talbot is a winner of its 2014 Richard Pierce Memorial Scholarship program.

This scholarship was created in 2011 in honor of Richard H. Pierce, who founded MES in 1993 to promote access to higher education for all Maine students. In memory of his life-long commitment to helping students, MES awards two scholarships in the amount of $2,500 to assist with college retention and completion.

This year’s applicants were chosen based on their perseverance in facing personal challenges.

Talbot is a graduate of Sanford High School, and this fall will be a junior at the University of New England, where she is majoring in psychology. Talbot has two part-time jobs, one at the University of New England Box Office and the other as a cashier at Walmart. She has not let the significant difficulties she has faced temper her drive for success, according to MES. She graduated high school with honors in 2012 and has earned dean’s list in college. Talbot said it is her goal to be the first in her family to graduate from colleg