Bernadelle (Biomedical Engineering & Pre-Health)

Increasing velocity has marked Bernadelle's record of accomplishments at Frederick Douglas Academy in Harlem. Her grades have gotten better each year, even as she took an increasing number of AP classes, served in the student government, worked 20 hours a week as a cashier at Modell’s and was co-captain of the track team. She had always been bothered by pains in her legs, but when she took up track it turned out that she had flat feet, and one leg was longer than the other. She sold candy in school to raise the $350 needed for orthotic shoe inserts, and they worked like magic. When she set a personal record in the 200-meter dash, she recalls, “I was ecstatic.” Noting that she is also a talented musician – gifts that she uses in worship at her church – her college counselor wrote that “in my experience of almost 20 years in education and over 10 years of college advising,”  Bernadelle was, “one of the most outstanding students I have encountered.” Perhaps inspired by her mother, who works in a hospital emergency room, Bernadelle's plan is to major in biomedical engineering, with a goal of making medical devices. Asked at her interview what receiving this scholarship would mean to her, she said that it would give “extra momentum to do what I want to do.” The next step in her studies takes her to Boston University.