NEW YORK, June 16, 2008 – Four young African-Americans who overcame such personal challenges as domestic violence, drug abuse, death of family members and disabilities will split $25,000 in scholarships to attend college next year, BET Networks and The Sallie Mae Fund announced today.
The recipients of the “Next Level” awards areTiffany Taylor of Dalton, Ga.; Antoine Gary of Waterbury, Conn.; Andrew Joseph of Yonkers, N.Y.; and Crystal Sanders of Houston are on their way to college with assistance from the.
“On average, college graduates earn $1 million more than high school graduates in the course of a lifetime,” said Debra Lee, chairwoman and CEO of BET Networks. “The ‘Next Level’ scholarships, along with other educational resources made available to BET viewers, help raise awareness about financial aid programs available to help more African Americans realize their dream of going to college and, in turn, give them access to greater earning power.”
Tiffany Taylor was named the first-place winner in the “Next Level” scholarship program and will receive a $10,000 scholarship for her essay submission. Tiffany’s inspirational story of overcoming the odds captivated the judges. She said she looks forward to pursuing a bachelor’s degree at the University of Chicago, where she will major in international studies and psychology.
Second-place winner Antoine Gary will receive a $7,500 scholarship. Gary says that winning the scholarship has changed his outlook about accomplishing his goals and made him more confident to tackle new obstacles, whatever they may be. “Always follow your dreams; do your best in high school; and do not worry about money, because things have a way of working themselves out,” he advises young people.
As a child, Andrew Joseph was diagnosed with speech and hearing disorders. He stuttered, was held back a grade and he missed classes because of his severe asthma. Today, this 19-year-old Yonkers, N.Y., resident sings in his church choir, plays saxophone, dabbles in video production and is about to graduate from the rigorous International Baccalaureate program at Yonkers High School. This fall, Andrew will enroll in Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, where he plans to study computer science. Andrew was chosen as the third-place winner and will be awarded a $5,000 scholarship.
Since playing nurse as a girl, Houston-born and -raised Crystal Sanders has known she wanted to go to college and pursue a degree in nursing. But along the way, her dream was nearly derailed. She learned firsthand about negative peer pressure, encountered domestic violence in her own family, and watched friends go to prison or have babies. As a junior, one of Crystal’s close friends, who had just become a young mother, was murdered by her boyfriend. Crystal determined her life would be different. “What inspired me most is my hard-working mother and praying grandmother,” she says. At 18 and just a few days from graduation among the top 10 percent of her class at Forest Brook Senior High School, Crystal is pondering her college choice – between Prairie View A&M University and Texas Women’s University, both in Texas. When Crystal graduates, she will be the first in her family to achieve a bachelor’s degree. She was selected as the fourth-place winner and will receive a $2,500 scholarship.
The “Next Level” scholarship program was open to African-American high school juniors and seniors. Applicants each wrote a 500-word statement on the obstacles they had to overcome to realize their dream of a college education. A panel of judges selected the four winners from among more than 4,500 applicants.