05-23-95 Project Excellence Scholar Chooses Ohio State

PROJECT EXCELLENCE SCHOLAR TO ATTEND OHIO STATE

     COLUMBUS -- Tanisha Devonne Spears, a senior at Spingarn High School in
Washington, D.C., has accepted a full, four-year scholarship to attend The
Ohio State University.  She is one of 105 college-bound students who have
received more than $3 million in scholarships from Project Excellence to
colleges and universities across the country.

     Tanisha is the daughter of Bernice Randolph, 1215 17th St. N.E.,
Washington, D.C.  She is president of the National Honor Society and of her
senior class and was featured in the 1994 edition of Who's Who  Among
America's High School Students. She is also the captain of the women's track
and volleyball teams, and secretary of the Kiwanis Key Club at Spingarn High
School.

     Tanisha, whose winning essay entitled Hardships Overcome told of
growing up with a drug-addicted mother and an absent father, was recently
quoted in a Washington Post article saying, "We were often hungry, poorly
clothed, but never broken in spirit."

     "We're very pleased to have her here," said LeRoy Pernell, Ohio States'
vice provost for minority affairs.  "People looking at her story might see a
story of struggle and difficulty.  I see it as one of triumph; she has
triumphed over obstacles the majority of us 
have never had to face."

     Project Excellence was founded in 1987 by journalist Carl T. Rowan to
combat peer pressures that demeaned academically brilliant black students as
"nerds" and labeled those using the English language well as "acting like
Whitey."  In its eight years of existence, Project Excellence has awarded
$9.2 million in scholarships for 592 students.
                             #
Contact:  Tracy Turner, University Communications, (614) 688-3682.


[Submitted by: Von Reid-Vargas (ereid@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu)
               
Tue, 23 May 1995 11:42:53 -0400]
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