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News From Around The Nation
Mother Who Skipped Her Own Graduation For Son’s Surprised With Degree
New Orleans High School Student Awarded 3.7 M In Scholarships
An 18-year-old New Orleans high school senior is being praised across social media for being accepted into 115 colleges and receiving $3.7 million in scholarship offers.
Antoinette Love says she’ll be the first in her family to attend college.
At this point, she tells CNN that she’s not even sure how many schools she applied to. “I just kept applying,” she said. “I wanted to see how many I could get into.”
Love has been stunned by the number of acceptance let- ters she has received.
“At first I didn’t think I was going to get this many, but then they just kept coming and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh,’” she said.
The National Honor Society student reportedly has a 3.7 GPA and used resources like the College Common app and the Common Black application, to apply multiple colleges with one application. She also rec- ommends prospective college students submit to schools that don’t have application fees.
According to The Advocate, Love is still waiting to hear from 12 more schools.
School officials are singing her praises for being “among the top seniors” across the na- tion who have been “accepted by the most colleges with the most financial offers in scholar- ships.”
“She has shown that she is able to compete on multiple
ANTOINETTE LOVE
levels, not only in terms of how many colleges that she’s been accepted into, but also in terms of how well she has done in high school,” said Sean Wil- son, the head of Antoinette’s school.
The 18-year-old participates in school organizations such as the anime club, video game club, national honor society, the English honor society, and Rho Kappa social studies honor society. She also has a part- time job at a local mall.
“I like influencing others to be good and be their best,” said Love, the oldest of five chil- dren.
“Antoinette is a very sin- cere student with a pleasant personality,” said her counselor Denise James. “She’s focused and enjoys reading and has managed to sustain a very im- pressive grade point average.”
Just ahead of Mother’s Day, Sharonda Wilson was proving just how un- selfish moms can be. The Michigan mother and her son, Stephan were graduat- ing from two different uni- versities on the same day.
Wilson wanted to be there to see her son graduate from Central Michigan Uni- versity in Mt. Pleasant and was willing to skip her own graduation at Ferris State University in Big Rapids. The two schools are an hour away from each other.
But fortunately for mother and son, someone got wind of Sharonda Wilson’s dilemma and intervened. That someone was Central Michigan University’s presi- dent, who intervened on the Wilson’s behalf.
According to CNN, Central Michigan’s president, Bob Davies, heard about Wil- son’s predicament on the morning of the ceremony, and he then contacted Ferris State University president David Eisler. Working to- gether, the universities quickly devised a plan to sur- prise Wilson with her diploma at her son’s gradua-
Sharonda Wilson at her son, Stephan’s graduation.
tion.
“Dr. Davies really
shocked me. I told a friend of mine that (my) mom was skipping her graduation to be with me, and she used her magic to help Dr. Davies or- chestrate that moment,” Stephan told the Detroit Free Press. “When I heard [she] was getting her degree with me I was speechless. My mother is truly the strongest and most compassionate woman I know. That moment tops [any] other moment I have ever shared with my mother.”
He continued: “I had been looking forward to walking across that stage and accept-
ing my degree for a long, long time. Earning my degree was such a huge milestone in my life, and having my mom with me to celebrate that moment was an unbelievable blessing. I am so proud of us both.”
“My mom has been so sup- portive of my education, and has been working so hard on her own educational jour- ney,” Stephan told Yahoo.com. “It was unbeliev- ably special to share this mo- ment together at commencement with her. I had been looking forward to graduation for a long time, but this was so much more meaningful than I could have imagined.”
Incoming Chicago Mayor Has Path To Historic Police Reforms
CHICAGO — Lori Light- foot will have a powerful ally after she’s sworn in Monday as Chicago mayor in seeking to fulfill a campaign promise to overhaul the Police De- partment in the nation’s third-largest city: a judge with authority to hold reform slackers in contempt.
She isn’t the first incoming Chicago mayor to have pledged to overhaul a depart- ment accused for decades of abuses. But with a court- monitored plan, or consent decree, recently approved by U. S. District Judge Robert Dow, she has the best chance of actually getting it done.
Lightfoot, who made his- tory in April when she de- feated a longtime political insider to become the first black woman and openly gay
MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT
person elected to lead Chicago, signaled days before her inauguration that she’s serious about transforming the 13,000-officer force by appointing top staffers with histories as strong police-re- form advocates.
Even with court backing, Lightfoot faces obstacles to enacting the meaningful changes that protesters sought after the 2015 release of video of a white officer shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald 16 times.
“I believe she’s a true re- former,” said Phil Turner, who like Lightfoot, is a for- mer federal prosecutor in Chicago. “But there’s a differ- ence between trying to re- form police and reality. She is up against a lot of enrichened forces.”
That may include some City Council members who could drag their feet on her police agenda in response to another of Lightfoot’s plans — to curtail some powers city lawmakers have wielded.
Amandla Stenberg Is Fenty Beauty's Newest Ambassador
“BEAUTY FOR ALL ... and more to come,” Amandla Stenberg (who uses the pro- nouns “they/them/their”) cap- tioned a mysterious Instagram post last week, featuring their luminous face reflected in a rearview mirror. The image presumably teases an upcom- ing campaign for Fenty Beauty, which also got a “thank u” from The Hate U Give star for enlist- ing them as the brand’s newest brand ambassador.
As an actor and activist out- spoken about both their bira- cial and queer identities, Stenberg has become a lead- ing light of their generation, providing a relatable role model for evolution and aware- ness. Their all-inclusive stance makes them a perfect brand ambassador for Fenty, which launched with a mission “to help everyone feel beautiful and recognized, no matter their race, ethnicity, culture or per- sonal style.”
As reported by the Cut, Stenberg issued a release on
Amandla Stenberg attends the 91st Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood and Highland on February 24, 2019 in Hollywood, Califor- nia.
the new alliance, stating, “I wanted to become a part of the Fenty Family because it’s one of the few beauty brands that make me feel like myself! Fenty Beauty’s whole ethos makes me feel empowered and excited to let different facets of myself shine.”
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