Help Brittany attend Columbia University...

Hello everyone and welcome to my fundraising page, for easier reading this page is broken up into four sections...

Who Am I?

My name is Brittany Williams and I’m 21 years old. As a graduating senior from Hampshire College in Amherst, MA I am seeking assistance with financing my graduate school education at Columbia University’s Teachers College. At Teachers College, I will complete a Master’s Degree in Sociology and Education on an Education Policy track where I hope to gain a better understanding of the systems and policies that prevent and facilitate non-conventional styles of learning and transformative education in public education.

When I envisioned my future, I never saw myself going to graduate school, let alone to study education. Before coming to Hampshire, I was the first in my family to graduate high school and I imagined an undergraduate degree as my pathway out of the harsh conditions of West Atlanta. Before I knew it, however, Hampshire had turned me into a life-long learner and educator who would become committed to bridging the gap between inner-city communities and higher education.

Why fund me? 

I completed my BA in a self designed Social Policy major (a hybrid of sociology, Black studies, and pre-law) with a thesis that explores Rap music as a site of education, particularly around narratives of resistance and critiques of injustice. For me, the ability to integrate the life that I have known with the education route that I have chosen to take is vital to planning a life that is fulfilling and meaningful in multiple ways.

I foresee this fundraising project as a way to contribute to personal goals that will certainly have a great communal impact. By this, I mean that I will pay it forward through my commitment to giving back to those communities that have helped to shape me into who I am. For instance, since coming to Hampshire, I have become  a mentor to three young women who graduated from my high school, been an active member in over a dozen campus extracurricular activities and groups including Residence Life, the Board of Trustees, and student government. I have also engaged fully in the community outside of my campus by participating in programs such as Habitat for Humanity and Big Brothers and Big Sisters. Indeed, my commitment to education parallels my aspirations for creating a world that is more inclusive and accessible to everyone.

Is there a future impact?

Though completing my Masters has now become a short-term goal, I know that it will ultimately impact my long term goals of becoming a human-rights/civil rights attorney, as much as it will my desire to begin a private academy for inner-city youth. This milestone is, then, not a celebration for me alone but one that I share with my families, both the one that I was born into and the one that I will create through my lifetime of involvement and investment in the lives of young people.  My own life has been greatly enhanced by participation in programs such as Hampshire’s James Baldwin Scholars program, with mentors who have become like family to me.  I cannot envision a future without those partnerships, only I greatly look forward to being a mentor, and affecting other lives in similar ways.

The ability to attend Columbia with a decreased financial burden would be a vital factor in making this potential future an actualized reality. Columbia’s tuition rate for the 2012-2013 school year is roughly $1,286 per credit hour and I plan on completing 18-21 hours this school year. This brings my tuition total to almost $25,000, a debt that would prove a tremendous burden considering the educational and career paths I intend to take. My future endeavors are not in fields that will have huge financial returns. For me, a reward would be seeing more first generation youth like myself go on to college, regardless of the communities in which they were raised. Beyond the individualized mentorship, I plan to dedicate my career to affecting change on a greater scale, working tirelessly to decrease cases of discrimination in American education. 

Share the love?

Know that your contribution will have an impact on me and on every person that I will come into contact with on this journey. I am committed to mentorship, service, and being an agent of positive change. Your support could make all of the difference.  Thank you for your kind assistance.

P.S. If you want to donate off-line (which comes without a charge to me) you can do so by contacting me.

Brittany Williams