Diop Russell had a goal of completely paying off her first year of tuition at Spelman College. She was roughly $20,000 away prior to May 24, when that number was cut in half from winning a $10,000 scholarship at the 2018 Michigan Chronicle S.W.A.G. (Students Wired for Achievement and Greatness) scholarship program. The scholarship is in its third year and has been made possible through a partnership with the Michigan Chronicle and Chemical Bank.
Out of the 13 finalists who received money at the S.W.A.G. ceremony held at the Detroit Athletic Club, Russell was the last to have her name called because she was the first-place winner. As her winning essay was being read, she celebrated with her family and friends.
“I was just hoping for $2,000,” Russell said. “So, when my name wasn’t called until the very end, I was in disbelief; I was really excited. The cool thing about S.W.A.G. is that everybody is a winner. I was happy for everyone else, even if I was the big winner.”
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Russell graduated from Detroit Cass Tech this year with a 3.6 GPA and finished in the top-three percent of all students in the entire Detroit Public School District. She plans on studying political science at Spelman, with dreams of returning home to Detroit to serve in city government. The $10,000 will go a long way toward Russell furthering her education and obtaining her goals.
“I set a goal to try to pay my first year of tuition at Spelman,” said Russell. “This scholarship has basically made that dream come true. My parents are educators and have always pushed me toward accomplishing my goals. This money will go far towards helping me achieve them.”
Scholarship programs such as S.W.A.G., whose goal is to build confidence and ensure a better future for Detroit-area teens, provide a village of support for parents and educators, and together, build strong future community and business leaders, was made just for students such as Russell. Finding a way to pay for college is enough stress in itself. The S.W.A.G. scholarship takes a 10,000-pound load off of Russell’s back.
“I’m a product of people reaching back,” said Michigan Chronicle publisher Hiram E. Jackson. “I believe that it takes just one person to create something special in your life. When you do this community-based stuff, it should be with a goal of reaching one child or one individual. And my life was impacted by people who decided to do something for the community. I was the beneficiary of stuff like this when I was younger. I’ve seen the benefits of how a motivating factor can work.”
Russell is also involved in the community, which was one of the qualifications needed in order to win the top prize. During her time in high school, Russell was the vice president of the National Honor Society and a mentor with Doctors of Tomorrow, which inspires and prepares high school students from underrepresented communities to successfully pursue careers in healthcare in order to increase diversity among medical professionals.
Participating in Doctors of Tomorrow sparked Russell’s passion for reducing food disparity in underserved communities. At Cass Tech, the students do not have many healthy food options outside of school lunch and the DECA store. That was the dilemma Russell had as a sophomore, when she noticed some of her peers buying Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and other junk food from the school store and others were throwing away apples, salads, and other healthy foods. That prompted her to start her “Put Some Respect Some on My Plate” initiative, to combat childhood obesity online and in the classroom and encourage healthy eating among children and teenagers.
With the help of her team she calls the “Respect Squad”, Russell teaches teens the importance of sustaining and creating healthy eating habits though social media challenges, after school snack recipes, food maps, after school workshops, and much more. Russell also organized food drives for Gleaners Community Food Bank and other organizations, so families in Detroit would not have to drive the 10 miles or more in order to buy organic and affordable food, like her parents had to do.
“Childhood obesity, food insecurity, and several other factors were impacting my community,” Russell said. “So, I decided to make a change. I wanted to teach my peers that healthy eating is good for you. I wanted to help people in Detroit who didn’t have access or couldn’t afford to go to Whole Foods and shop. I would encourage them to write out a grocery list and I tried my hardest to buy everything on the list. I plan on taking the program down to Atlanta with me.”
Chemical Financial Corporation Board Chairman Gary Torgow thought highly of Russell and her academic and community service endeavors.
“Diop is quite a remarkable person,” said Torgow. “She not only has done outstandingly well academically but she is a creator and executor of really wonderful things. Her project that she initiated has become so vast and important. She’s just an outstanding person and the perfect recipient for the S.W.A.G. Award, meeting all the criteria for a person that is going to do great things in the world.”
A total of 13 scholarships were given out: five for $1,000, five for $2,000, two for $5,000, and one for $10,000. The Michigan Chronicle and Chemical Bank plan to continue their partnership through the S.W.A.G. Awards, helping students in the Detroit area excel through higher education.
“Next year, we’re going to add more money to the scholarship and we’re going to have more recipients,” Torgow said. “We want more kids to able to move forward in their lives and it’s a great opportunity for us to take some of our benefits and pass them around in Detroit.”
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