Anaja Griffin McNeal HBCU Scholarship

We are now accepting donations for the Anaja Griffin McNeal HBCU Scholarship. Join us in upholding Naji's legacy by supporting our current and future leaders.

 

Anaja Griffin-McNeal, Class of 2020, lit up our Brooklyn Center High School community with her warmth, intelligence, and her passion for cheer squad and Black history.

 

After visiting HBCUs and historic civil rights sites in the southern United States, she became an advocate for implementing a curriculum at BC that taught more Black history. She was just starting out on the journey to achieve her dreams, attending Houston Community College, and planning to transfer to Clark Atlanta, when her life was tragically cut short.

 

It is our dearest hope that her legacy will live on in those who knew and loved her, and that this scholarship will help other BCCS students to start their own journeys to achieve their dreams.

 

This year we hope to award two BCCS graduates with the Anaja Griffin McNeal HBCU Scholarship.  When this year's recipients have been chosen (by the end of May, 2021) funds will be transferred to Chloe Cotherman.  Chloe is a former teacher of Naji's, and is working in coordination with Naji's father and many of her former teachers on this scholarship.  Chloe will then write personal checks or deposit funds to the recipients' venmo or cashapp account.

 

 

Quotes from a paper Anaja wrote in her African American Civil Rights course:

"It’s inspiring to see my people prosper. It’s motivating to see my people break free from the shackles of stereotypes that this world and society places on us.  To self define unapologetically, to be inspired by those who’ve never diminished their power for the satisfaction of dominant culture. To look up to those who didn’t allow their voices to go unheard, or their efforts unnoticed to preserve someone else’s delicacy."

"I want to walk the pathway my elders paved for me to get where I desire to be. I’m not responsible for the world’s fear of my success because of my skin color, so I won’t be held back because society’s threatened by me."