Bennett Inside

Summer Program Teaches Unexpected Lesson Bennett College senior math and biology major Qaleelah Smith ’19 assumed her summer would be exciting. What she didn’t count on was delivering a baby! Smith and Bennett senior Aravia Patterson ’19, a biology and Africana Women’s Studies major from Columbia, S.C., spent three weeks over the summer in The Gambia in West Africa through Drexel University’s Global Health Maternal Child Health Program. On Aug. 14, they arrived at the Tanji Clinic with other students and shadowed in the labor ward. Neither had a clue of what was in store. “There was a woman who’d …

HBCU Competitiveness Scholar Bennett Senior Tyler C. Binion ’19 is one of 63 students from 54 HBCUs chosen as an HBCU Competitiveness Scholar through the White House Initiative on HBCUs. Competitiveness Scholars have successfully prepared to compete for top opportunities that improve long-term outcomes. They were nominated based on their academic achievement, campus and civic involvement and entrepreneurial ethos or “go-getter” spirit. The undergraduate, graduate and professional students serve one-year terms and are provided outreach and engagement activities, as well as information and resources, to share with classmates. “I wanted to be a Competitiveness Scholar because I knew that my …

Jasmine Harrison ’22 made headlines after being accepted into 115 colleges and universities across the nation and amassing more than $4.5 million in scholarships. Now the Illustrious Belle Scholar is making the most of her time at Bennett. “Bennett has a partnership with Winston-Salem State University and other connections that enable students to get the most of their education and to branch out,” said Harrison, a biology major from Greensboro. “Bennett has a good Study Abroad program that branches around the globe. My freshwoman year has been very eventful. I’ve been to Morehouse College for their homecoming, to some book …

During Ophelia Murray’s first day on her summer internship at Nike, she attended the sportswear giant’s North America meeting. “I got to interact with senior leaders, including some from Toronto and New York. I participated in group activities with them as if I worked there and as if I were part of the team.” On day two, Murray told Nike employees about growing up in Philadelphia’s inner city and being raised by a single parent after her father’s passing. “I told them my life has been kind of hard but that I’m a rising senior at Bennett College and I’ve …

Kaylah Stevenson says while growing up in Philadelphia, she never really gave too much thought to traveling. “I didn’t ever imagine leaving Philly until I came to Bennett,” Stevenson said. “But when I went on a summer trip in 2017 with President Dawkins to South Korea and saw the beauty in traveling, that’s when I decided I wanted to travel more and one day work abroad.” One day is almost here. On August 22, Stevenson and fellow May graduate Chelsea Tubbs leave for China – Stevenson to Beijing and Tubbs to Shanghai. They’re scheduled to teach for a year through …