Yale University honors 9-year-old Black girl reported to police over lanternfly project

After a neighbor called police on Bobbi Wilson while she was spraying spotted lanternflies, Professor Ijeoma Opara planned an event in her honor, introducing her to other Black female scientists. Watch the full story below:

Chelesa Fearce went from homeless to Yale’s School of Medicine

Chelesa Fearce graduated at the top of her class, as her and her family dealt with being homeless.

Fearce, 23, is currently pursuing her MD–PhD degree at the Yale School of Medicine; a major step towards her goal of launching a career in psychiatry. Fearce’s journey to the prestigious Ivy League school was no easy feat. While attending Charles R. Drew High School in Riverdale, Georgia she and her family were homeless. She would often go without food and would use the stove lights at motels for her studying sessions. Despite living in those conditions, she earned a 4.5 grade point average and was named valedictorian of her class in 2013. Her academic accomplishments garnered her a full scholarship to Spelman College. After graduating from the historically Black college with a degree in biochemistry, she went on to work for a national health agency and started the next step in her academic journey at Yale last month.

Fearce says her experience with homelessness instilled values that she has taken with her throughout every stage of her life. “Homelessness taught me how to work hard, always persevere and never let anything get in my way,” she told the news outlet. “It really helped show my resilience when I applied for college and medical school.”

Fearce and her family have been dedicated to paying it forward and helping those in need. There was a scholarship named in her honor for homeless students determined to further their education. Her mother Reenita Shepherd has become the foster parent of four children and is currently serving as a caretaker for a former homeless shelter director.

[SOURCE: ATLANTA DAILY WORLD]

10 African American students chosen as Rhodes Scholars

One-third of the newest crop of Rhodes Scholars from the United States are African-Americans, the most ever elected in a U.S. Rhodes class.

Of the 100 Rhodes Scholars chosen worldwide for advanced study at Oxford in Britain each year, 32 come from the United States, and this time, 10 of those are African Americans.

The 10 African Americans in the class include Simone Askew, of Fairfax, Virginia, who made headlines in August when she became the first black woman to serve as first captain of the 4,400-member Corps of Cadets at the U.S. Military Academy—the highest position in the cadet chain of command at West Point. Askew, a senior, is majoring in international history, focused her undergraduate thesis on the use of rape as a tool of genocide and plans to study evidence-based social intervention at Oxford.

Several of the winners have devoted efforts to racial, social and economic justice.

Harvard College senior Tania N. Fabo, of Saugus, Massachusetts, created and codirected the first Black Health Matters Conference at the university. An immigrant who was born in Germany to Cameroonian parents, she plans to research oncology at Oxford.

"I'm still kind of in shock," Fabo said Sunday. "When they told me on Saturday I didn't really fully believe it."

Thamara V. Jean, of Brooklyn, New York, completed her senior thesis at Hunter College of the City University of New York on the Black Lives Matter movement. Jean is a child of Haitian immigrants, according to Debbie Raskin, a spokeswoman for Hunter College.

And JaVaughn T. "J.T." Flowers, who graduated this year from Yale University with a degree in political science, helped start an organization at Yale that provides mentors, tutors and summer stipends to make sure low-income students receive the same academic opportunities as others. Flowers has also examined gaps in Portland's sanctuary city policy. After graduating, he returned to Portland to work in the field office of Democratic U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, who said Flowers has worked on a variety of issues, including on how high costs of phone or video calls in prisons not only rip off the inmates, but make it harder for them to keep in touch with their families and thus to readjust to society when they're released.

"He's just an outstanding candidate for the Rhodes," Blumenauer said Sunday. "He's a very quick study, very good with people, an incisive listener who is able to translate that back to people who contact him and to the staff in our office. We're excited for him, and we're excited for what he's going to do when he's back."

Calvin Runnels, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is the second self-identified transgender Rhodes scholar from the U.S., following Pema McLaughlin, who was named a winner last year. A senior at the Georgia Institute of Technology, he has organized rallies in solidarity with the immigrant community and led efforts to increase the number of gender-neutral bathrooms on campus. Runnels will study biochemistry at Oxford. His research investigates the origin of the ribosome, which could provide insight into the origins of life, the Rhodes Trust said.

The scholarships, considered by many to be the most prestigious available to American students, cover all expenses for two or three years of study starting next October. In some cases, the scholarships may allow funding for four years. The winners came from a group of 866 applicants who were endorsed by 299 colleges and universities. Four of the institutions had winners for the first time: Hunter College at the City University of New York; Temple University in Philadelphia; the University of Alaska in Anchorage; and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Congrats to all those students and to all 32 students selected for this prestigious honor. Below is a complete list of the 2018 Rhode Scholars from the United States:

Tania N. Fabo, Saugus, Massachusetts (Harvard University)

Samarth Gupta, Acton, Massachusetts (Harvard University)

Christopher J. D'Urso, Colts Neck, New Jersey (University of Pennsylvania)

Jordan D. Thomas, South Plainfield, New Jersey (Princeton University)

Thamara V. Jean, Brooklyn, New York (Hunter College, City University of New York)

Daniel H. Judt, New York (Yale University)

Hazim Hardeman, Philadelphia (Temple University; also Community College of Pennsylvania)

Alan Yang, Dresher, Pennsylvania (Harvard University)

Nathan R. Bermel, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts (U.S. Naval Academy)

Naomi T. Mburu, Ellicott City, Maryland (University of Maryland, Baltimore County)

Chelsea A. Jackson, Lithonia, Georgia (Emory University)

Calvin Runnels, Baton Rouge, Louisiana (Georgia Institute of Technology)

Matthew Rogers, Huntsville, Alabama (Auburn University)

Noah V. Barbieri, Beldin, Mississippi (Millsaps College)

Mary Clare Beytagh, Dallas (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Harold Xavier Gonzalez, Houston (Harvard University)

Simone M. Askew, Fairfax, Virginia (U.S. Military Academy)

Matthew Chun, Arlington, Virginia (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Thomas J. Dowling, Chicago, (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Camille A. Borders, Cincinnati (Washington University in St. Louis)

Nadine K. Jawad, Dearborn Heights, Michigan (University of Michigan)

Clara C. Lepard, East Lansing, Michigan (Michigan State University)

Jasmine Brown, Hillsborough, New Jersey (Washington University in St. Louis)

Jaspreet "Jesse" Singh, Oak Ridge, Tennessee (U.S. Air Force Academy)

Michael Z. Chen, Boulder, Colorado (Stanford University)

Joshua T. Arens, Yankton, South Dakota (University of South Dakota)

Samantha M. Mack, Anchorage, Alaska (University of Alaska, Anchorage)

JaVaughn T. "JT" Flowers, Portland, Oregon (Yale University)

Madeleine K. Chang, San Francisco (Stanford University)

Sean P. Reilly, San Jose, California (Santa Clara University)

Alexis L. Kallen, Ventura, California (Stanford University)

Gabrielle C. Stewart, San Dimas, California (Duke University)

[SOURCE]

Ohio quadruplets choose Yale

After being accepted into several ivy league schools, all of the Wade quadruplets have decided they will attend Yale University in the fall. Aaron, Nigel, Nick and Zachary Wade announced their decision during the Today Show Monday. Watch their announcement below.

Quadruplet brothers accepted into Harvard and Yale

Quadruplet brothers in Ohio have all been accepted at some of the nation's top universities, including each of them to both Yale and Harvard.

The Wade brothers of the northern Cincinnati suburb of Liberty Township say they have been notified in recent days of acceptances from a number of notable schools. Lakota East High School principal Suzanna Davis tells the Hamilton-Middletown Journal-News that the four seniors epitomize academic focus but are well-rounded, "great young men" with individual personalities.

Aaron, Nick, Nigel and Zachary haven't made their decisions, though Aaron likes Stanford University and his three brothers are leaning toward Yale. Financial aid offers likely will play an important role.

The youths said they are grateful to their parents and to the Lakota schools and their teachers.

"It's really something we couldn't have done on our own without all the support we have had through our lives," Nick said. "It has been awesome."

Their mother, Kim Wade, is a junior high school principal in the Lakota district, and their father, Darrin Wade, works at General Electric Co.

"We feel like getting into these schools show who the people around us are," Nigel said.

Zachary added that they have always gotten encouragement that "the sky's the limit" with their hard work.

"We were never told that we couldn't get somewhere," Zachary said.

The Washington Post reports that Harvard doesn't comment on admission statuses and that Yale said by policy, it doesn't discuss admitted students.

[SOURCE]

Yale honors first black student James Pennington

Yale University is honoring its first black student by naming a classroom for him.

The New Haven Register reports that the school will hold a ceremony Thursday to name a divinity school classroom after James W.C. Pennington and hang his portrait in the room.

Divinity school graduate Lecia Allman led the effort to honor Pennington, who escaped slavery in Maryland in 1837. Allman says it was illegal in Connecticut then to educate African-Americans from other states, but Pennington was allowed to attend classes. He just wasn't allowed to speak, use the library or earn a degree.

Pennington later became an abolitionist and formed an organization to provide former Amistad captives an education.

Divinity School Dean Gregory Sterling says honoring Pennington "recovers part of our past that has been neglected.''