E. Modupeola " Dupe" Okeowo
2001 Graduate of Malcolm X Shabazz, Newark, NJ
2005 Graduate of Howard University

Four years ago I graduated from Malcolm X Shabazz High School in search for a better life.  I thought being provided with a fifty five-thousand scholarship dollars to attend Howard University and being a Project GRAD Scholar would determine my success once I got to college but that was not the case.  In college I had to discipline myself because my mother was no longer there to check on me or put me on punishment when I would get anything below a "B" on my  report card, or suspend me from the track team and the band.  My Scholarship Coordinator, Ms. Furlow was not there to put me in check whenever I fell behind in my class assignments or whenever I did not show up for my classes. 

I had to develop perseverance and patience because completing college was not an easy task no matter what your major may be.  Among the many trials and temptations I faced was the temptation to drop out of school when my classes became harder or the thought of not being able to graduate loomed large because financial aid refused to provide me with the enough money to pay for school tuition.  

Knowing that there were parties, I had to decide whether to go to the parties with my friends or to stay back and study.  Or even the worse to wake up at 7 a.m. in the morning to attend a boring chemistry class that I disliked so much but, by the end of the semester, it was a class that I learned to love enough in order to achieve the best grade possible.  I always remembered the words of my mother and the caring people at Project GRAD that surrounded me at home and this helped me get through those difficult times of my college career.

It was not easy majoring in nursing, which is one of the hardest majors on campus and having to also maintain a 3.3 GPA requirement in order to keep the tuition scholarship that I received from the great institution of Howard University.  In addition to providing me with some of my college tuition, Project GRAD's Scholarship Coordinators were always there to encourage and advise me in making the right decisions whenever I found myself in a confused state of mind about school. 

Graduating from college on May 14, 2005 is one of my greatest accomplishments other than graduating from high school with a Project GRAD scholarship.  During the procession for all graduates, I recalled overcoming such things as negative peer pressure, living and growing up in a drug infested area, and being the first person among my siblings to obtain a bachelor degree in my family other than my mother and father. 

As I go on to medical school and become the cardiologist I dream to be, I thank God for everything for it all happened only because He guided me safely through.  And I thank my mother who is my biggest role model and inspiration.  She gave me the hope that if she can earn two masters and work on a PhD at the age of sixty-two, who am I to give up at such a young age. I was able to receive several job offers even before graduating from college because of my work ethic and my GPA that I worked so very hard to obtain.

Finally, I would like to thank Project GRAD for four years of helping to finance my college education; trust me the money came in handy whenever it was needed.  Most of the money was spent on text books because the cost of books for one semester was over a thousand dollars; and, some was used for emergencies that came along each school year.  And, I would like to thank Mrs. Furlow for all of her encouraging words when I needed them the most and for always keeping it real, even when I didn't want to hear what she had to say.  I am now a living testimony that Project GRAD works for students from a challenged inner-city school like Malcolm X Shabazz High School in Newark, New Jersey.  I'm living proof that we can indeed matriculate to higher learning and complete our educational goals.