HBCU Student Interviews with Local & National Changemakers
Meet the Scholars
HBCU students will be interviewing grassroots leaders and we will be releasing their stories this summer right here through our BeGreat Together “Newsroom” and social media. These feature articles will examine local issues, such as youth and family mental health, art and advocacy, and other community-related issues.
“After this project, I will learn about grassroots efforts to advocate for underserved communities, using these skills in my future policy research careers.” –Patience Jones
Patience Jones is a Senior at North Carolina Central University from Durham, NC. Currently, she is studying English, Secondary Education, and General Psychology. In addition to her previous research on Educator Preparation Programs, culturally-responsive pedagogy, and Durham Public Schools' community assets, she plans to extend her research to policy work and research analytics. As an intern at Be Great Together, Patience is excited to continue the work of the current DocuSeries.
“As a young Black woman, navigating the journey to claim my space in a world bombarded by many obstacles, gaining an opportunity to be a part of a project of this magnitude is life-changing.” –Breanne Finch
Breanne Finch is an enthusiastic writer and resolute scholar dedicated to unearthing social ills that plague the Black community. After earning her bachelor’s degree in Journalism at Georgia State University she is now currently pursuing her master’s degree at Clark Atlanta University in Sociology. Driven by her journalistic foundations she takes pride in providing the best sociological research and writing techniques to explore social injustices. She has used both her sociology and public relations background to assist several organizations in promoting social awareness on an array of topics through marketing campaigns, writings, and thorough research. Her areas of interest are racial inequality and gender inequality. She aims to help people understand more about societal issues through digestible material and changing the narrative of people of color through her writing. Breanne is now completing her masters level thesis, a study of mass medias presentation of Black women’s hair. She then plans to obtain her PH. D in Sociology to become a sociology professor and continue her passion of writing and research.
“For me, this is the opportunity of a lifetime, professionally and personally, and also serves as a chance to shape representation within young minds for future generations to come.” –Immanuel Laidlaw-Hollie
Immanuel Laidlaw-Hollie is a Morehouse College senior communications major from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Success was always fleeting as the first of four maternal children and the third of ten paternal children. Immanuel was able to become the first high school graduate and college attendee in his nuclear family with the help of his mother and a wonderful community. These experiences have resulted in a resourceful, multitalented, punctual, and progressive communications student, poised to provide value-added creative and operational capabilities to an organization's mission and vision. He discovered a desire to create narrative change after circling the music industry for the majority of his undergraduate career. He'd still do it in communications, just in television and film. He graduates this December and plans to attend graduate school to obtain an MFA in Filmmaking.