Anahad O'Connor's decision to attend Yale was greeted with enthusiasm by his high school teachers; however, his plan to major in the sciences was mourned by one of his mentors.…

At the Houston, Texas High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, a prestigious and demanding institution, Ernest Scott showed breadth and depth. He was business manager of the school…

Jamaal Young is a graduate of the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where he majored in Culture and Politics and minored in Women’s Studies. He is currently the…

Jamar Campbell rode a bus two hours each morning from his home in Aurora to attend the Alexander Dawson School in Lafayette, Colorado. Selected for a full scholarship, Jamar transferred…

Kara Lee's motto is "never limit yourself." Eager to face challenges, Kara takes advantage of every opportunity to expand her horizons. She selected the most rigorous courses offered at Uniondale…

Winner of a National Merit Achievement Program scholarship, Telluride and "A Better Chance" scholarships, Courtney Wooten lists debate trophies, accelerated math courses, and summer programs at Stanford, Brown and Indiana…

Jason Young is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for personal finance and education.  Jason caught the entrepreneurial bug early and between the ages of 9 and 18, launched 5…

William Chichester, III is an incoming Senior Talent Acquisition Manager on Microsoft's Global University Recruiting leadership team starting August 24th, 2020. Prior to Microsoft, William enjoyed a 14 year career…

Caleb is a founder and Managing Partner at Matter Advisors. Caleb currently works in Matter’s Mumbai office representing the company’s clients across the global landscape of media, entertainment, technology and…

Brennan is President and CEO at the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation. The Foundation is a grantmaker driving positive, sustainable change in Charlottesville and the surrounding counties. She leads the organization…

One of the most important experiences in Dylan Solomon’s life has been his participation in the Elementary Institute of Science, which exposed him to both science and community service. Since…

Living with his mother and younger brother on the same Queens, New York street as his grandmother, DeLeon Wright was raised amidst a family dynamic that he believes helped to…

Jaime, as he is affectionately known, was born and raised in Mt. Vernon, NY and was selected to represent his state in the 2001 National Young Leaders Conference. A high…

Excellence and achievement have remained top priorities for Ashley Hayes throughout her life. She is currently a senior at Henry W. Grady High School in Atlanta, GA, where she is…

Ty aspires to make a difference in the world, and he has done so through his service efforts. During high school summers he helps teach Latin at his school's Castra…

Born in Boston into a single-parent home, Lordserious Watson decided to make his life meaningful and not become another statistic. His father, afraid of the responsibility of a child, was…

Daughter of two Caribbean immigrants, Daphra Holder has always known what it's like to work hard to achieve goals. Part of becoming an informed citizen is acquiring some degree of…

Eric is interested in the power of technology to improve human health and well-being. In 2007 he received his BS in chemical engineering with distinction from Stanford University, where he…

Born on Christmas Eve in 1984, Jessica Larche's life had humble beginnings. Product of a single-parent home, her future seemed bleak as her parents' divorce left her mother struggling. Considering…

If there were to be one sentence that reflects the tremendous dedication of Alexandra Wood, it would be Jean de la Fontaine's, “Man is so made that when anything fires…

Brent Cash admires Dr. Ben Carson as his role model, inspired by his ambition and ability to overcome. Although Brent lives in an area where few excel in academics, he…

Throughout his life, Preston Copeland has embraced challenges as part of the journey towards self-actualization: the full employment of his God-given talents.Ever since he demonstrated an early gift for reading,…

Coming from humble beginnings, Tariq was instilled with the virtues of gratitude, selflessness, and conviction very early in life. As one of three children raised by a single-parent, he was…

Miles Johnson is passionate about everything that he does. Whether leading a discussion in Black Student Union or directing a play, Miles is the type of person who brings out…

rom a tumultuous past marked by sporadic homelessness and an unstable family life, Crystal Paul somehow managed to go to college and graduate from Yale University in 2008 with a…

Joseph P. Browne was born on March 9, 1987 in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico; the third son of West Indian parents. Joseph’s family moved to Tampa, Florida in July 1990…

Reaha Campbell was born in Jamaica; at her birth, her father was unemployed and her mother was a seamstress; she knows what it is like to live with a zinc…

Helen Keller once said, “Although the world is very full of suffering, it is also full of overcoming it.” Michael Crawford is living proof of this statement.Michael grew up in…

The first word Lindsay Lally Cothrine remembers reading and comprehending by herself was “go” -- and that she did. She was two years old, and fifteen years later, she has…

As the oldest child in a single-parent home, Jeremy has endured his share of hardships. His adolescence was fraught with frequent relocations and the passing of close family members, including…

Jeanine Pollard (she/her) is a Baltimore native and mid-Atlantic enthusiast who lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She is an educator with 10 years of experience evaluating and designing learning…

Lynwood is the son of Mary and Lynwood Walker and the brother of Kimberly Plowden and Mornique Walker. He comes from a very large, tight-knit extended family. Lynwood credits his…

Crystal Boyd is a 2006 Ron Brown Scholar. She is a co-creator of DOWNTOWN GIRLS, a comedy collective dedicated to creating a new narrative that deconstructs modern experiences, explores relationships,…

Born in Quebec of West African immigrants, Salmana was introduced to Fulani, an African Sahel/Savanna zone language, French followed by English and Spanish. Molded in strong family values, she attributes…

There was no surprise that Cameron immediately took to the hurdles when he began to run track in the sixth grade because he had been facing hurdles his entire life.…

Adam Haliburton is now teaching, studying, and fly fishing in rural Japan. He is a 2010 graduate of Yale University, where he received the Woodbridge Fellowship upon graduation, which placed…

The name Austin in Latin means majestic and signifies dignity and respect. By striving to live up to his name, or just by natural possessing these qualities, Austin James Henderson…

Jeff Nelson is the founder and CEO of Cinchapi, an intelligent data platform out of TechSquare Labs that provides real-time analytics and machine learning to help businesses gain insights faster…

Ade Sawyer is a communications and public affairs strategist with an interest in renewable energy, sustainability and social justice. An Atlanta native, he was raised with the ethos that “I…

The sixth of eight children born and raised in Southeast Washington, DC, Askia Tariq West is the product of Black urban cultural groundings and elite European education, of exposure to…

“One day we’ll see your name between Maya Angelou and Walt Whitman.” These were the words expressed by television personality Fritz Coleman as he acknowledged Jenine’s selected poetry as an…

Jasmine Browne, from Tampa, Florida, attended the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.  She graduated with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. She now works at Proctor &Gamble as a Product Supply Engineer.

Dorian Dargan, from Wichita Falls, Texas, graduated from MIT in 2011 with dual degrees in Economics and in Urban Studies and Planning. Dorian spent over five years leading product at YouNow,…

Lucas Habte, from Sacramento, California, graduated from Harvard University in 2011 with degrees in the History of Science and Filmmaking. He received his MFA from the School of the Art…

Margaret Ivey, from Kennesaw, Georgia, attended The Westminster Schools and graduated from the University of Southern California with a B.A. in Theatre and a minor in Business Administration. Following an…