What began as a desire to help support Black students has evolved into a quest to grow Elon’s Black Alumni Scholarship endowment to $1 million.
As she walked across Elon’s campus wondering if this would be her home for the next four years, Kelli Palmer ’98 remembers hearing the tour guide explain the many student organizations Elon had and how any student could start one. “Everyone can lead at Elon,” the tour guide said. “Anyone can make a difference.”
Fast forward to 2007. Palmer was working in fundraising at the University of Virginia and had a front-row seat to the impact philanthropy had on students’ lives. “I saw the power and potential of Black alumni engagement as donors with the Black alumni group,” Palmer says.
Participating in creating life-changing opportunities for students, particularly Black students, along with the comment from the tour guide inspired Palmer to take action at Elon. Priscilla Awkard ’95 was thinking along the same lines. “Priscilla was talking about an interest in a scholarship, and I was talking about an interest in some sort of structured giving,” Palmer says. “And so, the two of us got together and thought, ‘What if we could get some other people to participate?’”
Palmer, Awkard and Darryl Smith ’86 contributed $5,000 each to the effort to create a solid foundation on which to build what became Elon’s Black Alumni Scholarship. “We talked to everyone about it,” Palmer says. “We passed a hat at events every Homecoming. We stood on the stage, Priscilla and I, and we said, ‘We’re raising money to send other Black kids to Elon. There’s a hat. Put your money in it.’”
Today, gifts from more than 1,000 alumni donors have pushed the value of the endowed scholarship to more than $350,000, helping to change the lives of its student recipients. To date, it has provided financial assistance to nine Elon students, with the 10th recipient, Makayla Oby ’23, announced in April. Oby, a sophomore biochemistry major with a minor in public health studies, is working her way toward a career in family dentistry. “I was thrilled to learn of my selection for this honor and am deeply appreciative of the support,” Oby says. “I will continue to work hard and eventually give back through dentistry, research and funding scholarships for future students like myself.”
Brian Feeley ’03, assistant vice president of university advancement at Elon, has watched much of this growth since his return to campus as a staff member in 2014. “It has really grown exponentially since it was founded, but in the past five years or so, we’ve seen steady growth both in terms of participation and dollars to the scholarship,” Feeley says. He credits the leadership of Elon’s Black Alumni Network (EBAN) for building a strong foundation of philanthropy and staying engaged with the university. “They have passed the baton to a new network of leadership,” Feeley says. “We have seen within the EBAN community that peer-to-peer leadership takes shape. They impress on their peers the need to pay it forward and blaze a trail for future Black students at Elon.”
When you are a first-generation college student, opportunities like Elon in LA seem inaccessible because of the costs. This scholarship gave me the means and the courage to pursue my dreams unapologetically and confidently. —Chann Little ’17
It’s not surprising that Elon announced this summer an ambitious goal to triple the endowment of the Black Alumni Scholarship to $1 million by 2025. This special fundraising initiative is part of the Elon LEADS Campaign, for which building scholarship support is the top priority, and coincides with the 25th anniversary of EBAN’s founding. As one of the original founders of the scholarship, Palmer looks forward to receiving messages asking her to contribute to the scholarship on Elon Day, Elon’s annual day of giving. She also enjoys reading notes from the recipients to hear what they are doing and what they hope to become. “I love that connection to current students. I love being reminded annually that the legacy continues and that it evolves,” Palmer says.
A living legacy
That legacy lives on through students like Kiara Hunter ’23, who received the scholarship in 2020. Hunter enrolled at Elon in fall 2019 after receiving the Honorable Thad Eure North Carolina Achievement Scholarship in the Odyssey Program. The Black Alumni Scholarship helped fill additional financial needs.
“When I received the Black Alumni Scholarship, it gave me a sense of security and peace,” Hunter says. “Because of the scholarship, I have the potential to do great things. I can go to graduate school and study public health and do things to help the community. It gave me that boost and I’m grateful for it.”
The ability to help communities solve multiple problems is what drew Hunter to public health. The field touches on many important issues, from mental and physical well-being to the environment, education and the criminal justice system. Hunter is now a double major in public health studies and statistics. “All of my courses are teaching me different things. There are multiple ways to make change. As long as you have the motivation and drive you can do it,” says Hunter, who hopes to eventually attend graduate school at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and ultimately work in public health for a government agency or in the nonprofit sector.
Hunter finished her first year as a Black Alumni Scholarship recipient as one of 15 Lumen Prize scholars, Elon’s top undergraduate research award. She will receive $20,000 for a two-year research project conducted with a faculty mentor.
Turning dreams into reality
Chann Little ’17 received the scholarship in 2014, which gave him the resources needed to take his education to the next level. “Being a Black Alumni Scholarship recipient was life-changing. It enabled me to be able to do the Elon in LA program, which started my career in the entertainment industry,” Little says. “Going to LA during the program gave me the confidence to move there after school, which led to me having a thriving career as a content strategist and social media manager.”
The high-impact learning practices for which Elon is nationally known for provide the real-life experiences that set Elon graduates apart from their peers. “The Black Alumni Scholarship turns dreams into reality. I am a living testament to how this program transforms lives,” Little says. “When you are a first-generation college student, opportunities like Elon in LA seem inaccessible because of the costs. This scholarship gave me the means and the courage to pursue my dreams unapologetically and confidently.”
After graduating, Little followed his dreams back to the West Coast, where he learned the ropes of the communications industry at a digital marketing agency. He then went on to work with friend Sydel Curry-Lee ’17 before joining Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, and her team at Option B as the leading social media manager. Today, Little runs his own company, The Visionary House, a full-scale digital marketing agency that provides creative services, tools and resources to socially conscious, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) and women-led businesses.
As its endowment grows, Elon’s Black Alumni Scholarship will continue to impact the lives of students like Little, Hunter and Oby thanks to Awkard and many others who helped nourish those seeds of hope, planted so many years ago.
“I liken my emotions about the Black Alumni Scholarship to how the very first farmer must have felt when they planted their first seed and saw the fruits of their labor grow. I imagine they felt an array of emotions: excitement, encouragement, pride, a drive to do more and just pure joy, because these are all of my feelings,” Awkard says. “We have hit so many milestones because of so many special people and we hope to grow this list by sharing the great stories and encouraging more to give to this amazing cause.”
Learn more about how you can support Elon’s Black Alumni Scholarship
Madison Taylor contributed to this story.