By Vyllorya Evans

The Southwest Neighborhood Assembly Education and Scholarship Task Force (SWNA ESTF) congratulates four-time SWNA scholarship recipients and Class of 2020 graduates, Jada Miles, Bachelors in Business Management, minor in Dance from Dean College in Franklin Massachusetts and Philip O’Sullivan, Bachelor of Arts in History, minor in Mathematics from the University of Chicago. We applaud their dedication, perseverance, and achievement. 

Jada’s academic journey has been studded with noteworthy accomplishments. Her college extracurricular activities included membership in the National Honor Society and the Black Student Union. She also traveled to Eastern Europe for three weeks where she studied the history and culture of several nations. Her strong commitment to her academic studies and the arts can be traced to a successful academic career at Duke Ellington School of the Arts, where she graduated in 2016 with honors. As a university student, she continued to nurture her creative talents in dance. Having danced in the Nutcracker in 2010 at the Kennedy Center with Misty Copeland, Jada looks forward with great anticipation to what the future holds for her as she contemplates dancing professionally and opening up a Fitness Center. 

Philip has always been a model academic student, earning excellent grades during his four years at the School Without Walls Public High School and Chicago University where he spent copious amounts of time at the campus library. It was there that his thirst for knowledge was nurtured but never quenched. He developed formidable research skills that landed him a job as a research assistant for a J.S.D. student at the law school. In addition to his time as research assistant, heavy involvement in student leadership and government has kindled Philip’s desire to continue his studies at Harvard Law School in the fall of 2022. Phillip will take a brief hiatus to refocus his goals on the pressing needs of our rapidly changing society in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The graduates fondly look back at their university experiences and they, with their families, thank SWNA and the Friends of Southwest for the financial support. There are many more students who need help. 

SWNA ESTF is currently collecting scholarship donations for the 2020-21 academic year and needs your help. You can make a tax-deductible donation to this worthy cause by sending a check payable to SWNA addressed to SWNA Scholarship Fund, PO Box 70131, Washington, DC 20024-0131. Please note “Scholarship” in the memo line. 

Do you know of a student in need of financial assistance for the 2020-21 academic year? SWNA ESTF is still accepting applications. The deadline is June 30, 2020. Applications should be completed online at https://www.swnascholarship.org/

For more information about SWNA’s commitment to Southwest youth over the past 46 years, visit https://www.swnascholarship.org/.

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