Tuskegee University has offered a local Chattanooga State Collegiate High School senior a full ride, recognizing her achievements and promising future in engineering.
Nalani Sims received the Distinguished Presidential Scholarship, which covers full tuition, room and board, fees, and an $800 book stipend, according to a statement from the Hutchins Academy.
“Nalani’s natural aptitude for academics is remarkable – she consistently excels in our most challenging courses with extraordinary ease,” says Marie Mott, Sims’ mentor. “As she considers this opportunity to represent Chattanooga’s young Black women in STEM at one of the nation’s most prestigious institutions, I’m particularly proud of how she’s flourished at Hutchins Academy.”
“I was skeptical about receiving any offers,” Sims said. “But my mother and Ms. Mott’s faith in me proved stronger than my uncertainties.”
Located in Tuskegee, Alabama and founded by Booker T. Washington 143 years ago, the university is renowned for its engineering program and legacy in African American education.
“Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed,” Washington once remarked.