Page 11 - Florida Sentinel 10-1-21

HBCU News
HBCU Grad, Jelani Day Has Been Found Dead
Florida’s First HBCU Edward Waters University And NC A&T State University Reach Highest Enrollment
Very sad news has unfolded in the HBCU community. The body of Alabama A&M Uni- versity graduate and Illinois State University graduate stu- dent Jelani Day has been identified. His body was found in the Illinois River, authori- ties said.
A press release from the LaSalle County coroner said a body found on Sept. 4 as au- thorities searched the Illinois River about a quarter mile east of the Illinois Route 251 bridge was that of Day.
Day, an Illinois State Uni- versity graduate student, was reported missing on Aug. 25, 2021. Family reported they last spoke with him the evening of Monday, Aug. 23. He was seen at the ISU cam- pus on Aug. 24.
Day's vehicle was found in Peru on Thursday, Aug. 26,
JELANI DAY
based on findings by Peru po- lice when they recovered the vehicle. After the Sept. 4 re- covery of the body, forensic dental identification and DNA testing and comparison was completed. The cause of death is unknown pending further investigation and toxicology testing.
Edward Waters University in Jacksonville, FL has sur- passed its enrollment for the first time in over two decades! Overall enrollment at the newly named Edward Waters University (EWU) has increased by a stunning 14%.
The phenomenal single- year, double-digit percentage enrollment increase culmi- nated in a final fall 2021 en- rollment count of 1,104 students at Florida’s first his- torically black college or uni- versity (HBCU) and first private institution of higher education — the highest over- all enrollment the institution has seen in close to twenty years.
Relatedly, the university si- multaneously welcomed its largest class of new students
EDWARD WATERS
on record as a total of 531 new students enrolled.
NC A&T State
With over 13,300 students, North Carolina A&T State University has officially reached the highest amount of students enrolled at one time ever! Those students are the university’s most aca- demically high-performing ever, with an average GPA of 3.7 and average SAT score of
NC A&T STATE
nearly 1,079.
The overall enrollment of
13,322 marks North Carolina A&T’s eighth consecutive year of growth, as well as the eighth straight year it has been the largest historically black university (HBCU) in the nation. A surge in first- year students was the major driver of this year’s increase: 2,930 freshmen are enrolled this fall.
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