College-acceptance letters really should play music and be outfitted with strobe lights on the outside. They’re that magical, that important, that life-changing for the young people opening them. That one sheet of paper makes high school’s four years of discipline, self-sacrifice and growth—personal and academic—absolutely worthwhile.
The young people receiving acceptance letters will need to stretch and magnify those values for the ensuing four years, too, as they journey further into scholarship and prepare to be powerhouses in their respective fields. It all starts with those letters that begin with “congratulations” and end with invitations to the recipients to bring their unique gifts to the campuses where they have been accepted.
In honor of the young, highly intelligent, extraordinarily talented, individually promising, fittin’-to-make-themselves-and-us-proud men and women who have done the work to take their education to the next level, The Root salutes these scholars. Know that your village is cheering you, praying for you and believing in you. Do big things.
Alina Andrews was accepted at Johns Hopkins University.
Monét Davis will be attending the College of Wooster.
Brady Watkins was accepted at the College of Western Idaho.
Michael Allen was accepted at FAMU.
Jevon Bolden was accepted at Mercy College to pursue a master of arts in English literature.
Seychelle Richardson was accepted at Baylor, Clemson, Spelman, Arizona State, Virginia Commonwealth, George Mason, Old Dominion and Georgia State.
Rebekah Rose Alexander was accepted at Allegheny College.
Jamari Cortez will be attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Phillip Morris Jr. was accepted at Harvard University.
Isaiah D. Brooks was accepted at Seton Hall University.
Zaria A. Evans was accepted at Tennessee State University.
Blake Woods was accepted at Columbia University.
Sheldondra Brown was accepted at Southeast Missouri University.
Amani Kai Stiger was accepted at Temple University.
Akim Richards was accepted at Harvard, Yale, Stanford and Georgetown universities.
Christine Elizabeth Hale was accepted at Fisk University.
Kendra McGhee was accepted at Iowa State University and the University of Missouri.
Keenan Jackson was at Howard University, Morehouse College and Xavier University.
Joshua Rakim Dale was accepted at Elizabeth City State University.
Want to see your name on this list? Were you recently accepted at a college? Have you decided where you will matriculate? We want to celebrate you. Send your name and the name of your school to submissions@theroot.com.