Grateful For School

I am a former student of a closed down college called Wheelock College. In 2015, I graduated from a high school called Boston Day and Evening Academy (BDEA), at the age of 19 years old with three scholarships, one of which was a $10,000 scholarship from Comcast.

Receiving a surprise $10,000 Scholarship from Latoya Edwards at the State House.

I got the scholarship for the countless hours of community service I did while also being homeless and getting great grades. Although I wasn't the Valedictorian, the graduation seemed to be mostly about me. The Comcast scholarship got used completely in less than two months just with room and board alone and I ended up dropping out without finishing a semester. A lot of people that surrounded me were upset at my decision for leaving college, but no one took the time to actually ask me why I left. The person who understood me the most ended up being the only person who stood by and applauded my decision and he is now my husband. Years later, the very reason why I left Wheelock College ended up being the reason the school got permanently shut down.

Formally named Marianna McNeil when I got the scholarship, this was the picture taken on the article written about me if one wants to learn more.

This year, the Wheelock College campus is now officially Boston University and the campus. Everything is the same except for the plaque being change to the correct school's name. When I attended Wheelock, there was a race war going on and for someone like me who stood for social justice and went on a Civil Rights Tour the summer before, I was not going to stay at a school that was so disorganized. The president of Wheelock College at the time was a black woman and she chose another black staff member to be the vice president. An anonymous professor became jealous and ran the new vice president's welcome letter through a plagiarizing system only the teachers have access to and sent it out to the press accusing her of plagiarizing a part of Harvard's welcome letter. It was assumed by the majority of the students that a white professor was accountable for this and students began chalking protests on the sidewalks of the campus. The lunchroom also became segregated by race as everyone had their own opinions on this issue. I became depressed by not only that, but I was also being bullied by my own dance teammates as I was apart of the dance team, and sexual rumors were also being spread about me. I became a pothead, smoking marijuana every day as a way to cope with all of this stress and I eventually dropped out for 3 years.

Fast forward to the present and I am now getting A's on all of my assignments at Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC), a college I wish I brought my scholarship to instead.

A photo of the college I now attend.

This school has so many more opportunities and great professors that I connect with of all races at a much cheaper price. I even have the opportunity to take online courses, and with me being induced to have my second son in just 5 weeks, I will be able to take all of my courses online next semester. I wish I was educated more in high school about debt and what I would be getting myself into at a four-year institution, but I am grateful that I now have a smarter plan this time around. I will be attending BHCC for the next two years studying liberal arts and taking as many classes as possible, even though the summers with plans to maintain great grades so that I can transfer to Emmerson College to study communication disorders. With this plan, I will be saving a ton of money since my first two years will be done at community college prices! The staff at BHCC and Emmerson helped me develop this plan and told me which classes would be necessary for a smooth transfer and what grades I would need to get. Not only are the staff great at my college, but the bookstore also enables me to make sure I have my required textbooks on time every semester with my leftover financial aid. I am so grateful for BHCC, and if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be able to be a homeless pupil yet again!