> Alumni Profiles
In our first two graduating classes, 100% of our
graduates were accepted to college. Below we tell
you how a few of our graduates are doing.
Quanic Fullard '05
made the Dean's List for the fall semester at the
University of North
Carolina–Chapel Hill, a fact that surprised
no one. It should have. Many high school high-flyers
make a hard landing in the competitive classrooms
at elite colleges and universities.
Fullard said that the skills she learned at Thurgood
Marshall Academy
made continuing at high altitude much easier. One
obvious advantage came from Thurgood
Marshall Academy's
rigorous work ethic. "You don't have to be a
genius to handle the academic workload here, but it's
hard," Fullard said. "I've managed my time
so that I'm getting all my papers and projects done
two or three days ahead. That's something I definitely
learned from Thurgood
Marshall Academy."
The biggest advantage of her Thurgood
Marshall Academy
education, Fullard said, was the ability to seek answers—a
gift from her tutors and teachers.
"It's hard to ask questions if you're afraid
you're going to be put down as stupid or lazy,"
she said. "But that never happened at Thurgood
Marshall Academy.
My tutors taught me to ask for help when I don't know
something. So today, I'm not embarrassed to ask for
help. If I don't know, I find out."
Lawrence
Chambers '05 had been at Xavier
University
for two weeks when New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered
residents to evacuate the city before Hurricane Katrina
made its landfall. Since two other '05 graduates were
a short plane trip away at Morehouse
College,
Chambers decided to evacuate to their dorms in Atlanta.
"I said to myself, 'That's great. I'll go visit
my friends at Morehouse for a day or two,'" Chambers
said. He didn't go back to New
Orleans until January.
In the upheaval that followed Katrina, Chambers
came back to Washington,
intent on returning to Xavier whenever it could reopen.
The bonds he had forged while at Thurgood
Marshall Academy
helped him. He had undertaken a summer internship
at Clifford Chance—the firm whose volunteers
had adopted the Class of 2005. The firm now offered
him a 9-to-5 job as a paralegal intern.
When Chambers finally
returned to Xavier for the second semester, he came
to appreciate, of all things, the constant hounding
to tuck in his shirt during his four years at Thurgood
Marshall Academy.
"Thurgood
Marshall Academy
taught me to respect education, to respect myself,
and to show up every day with my homework finished
and my shirt tucked in," he said. "That
impacts your life. You learn to take care of the details.
That really helps in college."
LaShena Cross '05
is currently a sophomore at Virginia
State University.
She finds her second year to be easier than her first
year because she is now more familiar with the campus
and its available resources.
She is also getting better at setting priorities
and managing her time. On a typical day, she spends
about three to five hours preparing for class, attending
class, and completing related assignments.
In her free time, she is actively involved in Kerojo
an on-campus modeling organization. This organization
hosts fashion shows, teaches area high school students
about modeling, and performs community service.
"College was everything I had expected it to
be—meeting different types of people and finding
out what you're interested in." She says Thurgood
Marshall Academy
has prepared her well to succeed in college, especially
when it comes to essay writing. The skills she gained
from making and presenting her portfolio have helped
ease the college transition.
Though she
was accepted to several schools, Nyair Wilkinson
'06 decided to attend Thurgood Marshall's
alma mater, Lincoln
University. "I'm
the first and only one from TMA," Nyair said
halfway through her first semester. I'm proud to be
here and I'm doing OK."
Actually, with three B's and an A after mid-terms,
she's doing better than OK. She gives much of
the credit for her academic success to the preparation
she received at Thurgood Marshall Academy. College
algebra has proved easier than the horror stories
she'd heard. "It's the same mathematical
concepts, just at a higher level," she says. "I
was prepared. I understand it."
Two of Wilkinson's courses require students to create
and present a portfolio on their course work, a Thurgood
Marshall Academy requirement that most high school
students have never experienced. "I help
my classmates out," she says. "You have
to be organized and keep up with your work daily,
just like they taught us at Thurgood Marshall Academy."
Lincoln
University
is tucked away in the rural beauty of Oxford
in southeastern Pennsylvania,
where Quaker abolitionists once welcomed escaping
slaves as they crossed the nearby Mason-Dixon
Line. Lincoln's
location remains remote, but now it draws students
from around the U.S.
and the world—especially from African nations. Wilkinson's
roommate is from Philadelphia
and her friends from New York,
Connecticut and Detroit. "They
say I'm country because I live in DC," she says. "It's
this place up here that's country. But I like
it. I'm really glad I got the chance to come."
