Brittany Megan Armstead majored in Political Science. She is from Laurelton, New York and has been recognized for her academic excellence on the Dean’s List and at Black Excellence ceremonies. She participated in the January term study abroad course in South Africa and contributed a post on post-apartheid health inequalities to the course’s blog (blogs.elon.edu/sasa/author/elonsasa15zulu).

Yasmine Arrington majored in Strategic Communications and History, with a minor in African & African American studies. She is from Washington, DC. Yasmine is an Elon Arts & Sciences college fellow and studied abroad in Ghana, January 2014. She is the founder and executive director of the non-profit ScholarCHIPS and will be working as a graduate fellow with Hager Sharp, a PR firm in DC, this summer. Yasmine will also begin the Master of Divinity program at Howard University in Fall 2015.

Jasmine Bryant majored in Psychology with minors in African & African-American Studies and Early Childhood Education. She was born and raised in Washington, DC. She spent a winter term in South Africa, where she especially loved using knowledge from both her minors to work with children in townships. At Elon, Jasmine served as the Vice President of the Omicron Lota Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. She will be continuing her studies in a Master of Social Work program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Chris Mench majored in Strategic Communications. He is from Westfield, NJ. He is greatly interested in the post-slavery experience of African people, particularly in the Caribbean, where he completed a WT study abroad program to Barbados. Outside of academia, he is an aspiring music journalist, particularly in the world of hip-hop, and has been published in both Complex and XXL magazines.

Omolayo Ojo majored in International Studies. She is from Ondo, Nigeria and grew up in southern Maryland. She has minors in French, Communications, and African & African-American Studies. She has traveled to Ghana and Senegal and is headed to France on an English Teaching Assistantship Fulbright award. At Elon, she was the co-founder and President of the Elon African Society, an Honors Fellow, Lumen Scholar, and Periclean Scholar (Haiti class).

Kaitlyn Saal-Ridpath majored in Public Health Studies with a double minor in International Studies and African and African American Studies. She is from outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Fall semester of her freshman year, Kaitlyn took a gap semester and spent three months traveling East Africa, instilling her passion for the continent. On campus, she stood as Co-President of Elon’s Public Health Society and the Associate Director of The Elon Network. Kaitlyn aspires to work in global health policy with a focus on human rights and food justice.

D’Netria Spear majored in Strategic Communications with minors in Sport and Event Management and African and African American Studies. She is from Charlotte, NC. She also participated in the Elon in New York program during the summer, where she worked at Symphony Space as the Development and Special Events intern. During her time at Elon, she served as the Student Program Coordinator for Black Student Success in The C.R.E.D.E. and co-founded Senior Legacy, a group that focuses solely on the retention and progression of Black Student Organizations at Elon University.

Miles Williams majored in Human Service Studies with minors in Psychology and African & African-American Studies. He lived in several different states before landing in Spartanburg, SC. In January 2014 he participated in the West African History and Culture class in Ghana. Miles’ achievements include being a three-year Letterman, captain of the football team, SGA’s student-athlete representative, an Office of Admissions Diversity Ambassador, and member of the 2013 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team. After graduation, Miles will return to Elon to finish his final season of football eligibility and conduct research on hip-hop’s influence on high-achieving, elementary aged, African-American males in Burlington to facilitate their self-efficacy, identity formation, and classroom achievement. Miles plans to go into Urban Education to give more children an education like he has been able to receive.