News
Students at a Paying for College Bus Tour stop, Reading, PA
BET Networks and The Sallie Mae Fund proudly announce winners of the "Next Level" Scholarship Program
Four African-American high school students who have overcome daunting obstacles awarded a total of $25,000 in scholarships for college
New York, June 16, 2008—Four young African-American women and men, who as high-schoolers have overcome such personal challenges as domestic violence, drug abuse, the death of family members, and disabilities, will receive a combined $25,000 in scholarships to attend college next year, BET Networks and The Sallie Mae Fund announced today. Tiffany 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 “Next Level” Scholarship Program.
“On average, college graduates earn $1 million more than high school graduates in the course of a lifetime,” said Debra Lee, Chairman 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
Tiffany Taylor was named the first place winner in the “Next Level” Scholarship Program and receives a $10,000 scholarship for her essay submission. Tiffany’s essay was powerful and captivated the judges with her inspirational story despite the personal challenges she has experienced. This first place winner eagerly looks forward to pursuing a bachelor’s degree at the University of Chicago, majoring in international studies and psychology. Even at 18 years old, Tiffany learned early to embrace personal values. “I realized that despite what your situation may be or what obstacles you may face in life, you should always seek opportunities to improve your situation,” she says. Tiffany believes that family comes in various forms and may not resemble the “traditional” two-parent family. Her advice to children who may not have both parents in the home is to “always strive to educate yourself so you can achieve your dreams.”
Antoine Gary
Antoine Gary is the second place winner of the “Next Level” Scholarship Program and will receive a $7,500 scholarship. Winning the scholarship has made Antoine change his outlook about accomplishing his goals, and made him more confident in tackling new obstacles, whatever they may be. His essay gave him an opportunity to express himself and share his personal challenges with other young adults. Overcoming previous challenges has helped him realize that good outcomes can come out of bad situations. “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.
Andrew Joseph
As a child, Andrew Joseph was diagnosed with speech and hearing disorders, he stuttered, he was held back a grade, and he missed classes because of his struggle with severe asthma. Today, this 19-year-old young man from Yonkers, N.Y., 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. After a long road of speech therapy and many tests, he has learned how to overcome his hearing challenge. In class, he sits in the front of the room. After class, he exercises his left ear by using an ear plug and listening to tapes. “My mom and my dad encouraged me and pushed me not to give up on myself,” he says. “I know that I must continue to work harder than other students, but I am up for the challenge.” 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.
Crystal Sanders
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 she was almost derailed from this dream. 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. “They have told me to never give up and to reach for my goals.” In fact, her grandmother’s hospital job inspired her young interest in nursing. Crystal has put that interest into action by volunteering at a local health clinic and the nearby hospital. At 18 and just a few days away from graduation in the top 10 percent of her class at Forest Brook Senior High School, Crystal is currently making 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 applications.
In addition to the scholarship program, this fall BET Networks and The Sallie Mae Fund are collaborating to present five free workshops geared to help students and their parents access financial aid and plan for college. Last fall, The Sallie Mae Fund and BET Networks also co-sponsored a scholarship directory that gives African-American students and their families easier access to hundreds of college scholarships and millions in scholarship dollars. Produced by the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education, “Black College Dollars,” available at www.blackcollegedollars.org, offers a free, comprehensive listing of more than 300 scholarships designed for African-American students.
According to research from the U.S. Department of Education, white Americans are nearly twice as likely as black Americans to have earned a bachelor’s degree by the age of 29. If current trends continue, of every 100 African-American kindergarteners today, only 20 will achieve a bachelor’s degree by age 29, compared to 36 out of 100 white students.
“The Sallie Mae Fund’s research has consistently found that one of the largest barriers keeping African-American students from reaching higher education is a lack of access to information about how to pay for college,” said Erin Korsvall, vice president, The Sallie Mae Fund. “Through the scholarship program, financial aid workshops, and the scholarship directory, we are helping to change the status quo for future students.”
###
The Sallie Mae Fund, a charitable organization sponsored by Sallie Mae, achieves its mission—to increase access to a postsecondary education for America’s students—by supporting programs and initiatives that help open doors to higher education, prepare families for their investment, and bridge the gap when no one else can. In addition, The Sallie Mae Fund encourages employee volunteerism and community service in the more than a dozen communities where Sallie Mae employees live and work. For more information, visit www.salliemaefund.org.
BET Networks, a division of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), is the nation's leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary BET channel reaches more than 87 million households according to Nielsen Media Research, and can be seen in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of business extensions: BET.com, a leading internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; BET Digital Networks - BET J, BET Gospel and BET Hip Hop, attractive alternatives for cutting-edge entertainment tastes; BET Event Productions, a full-scale event management and production company; BET Home Entertainment, a collection of BET-branded offerings for the home environment including DVDs and video-on-demand; BET Mobile, which provides ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, an extension of BET network programming for global distribution.
Contact
Lyntina Townsend
202-608-2745
lyntina.townsend@bet.net
Erica Eriksdotter
703-984-5628
erica.eriksdotter@salliemae.com
