When Aaliyah Brown, a senior at Florida A&M University, found out she was accepted for the 20th Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) Leadership Institute, it felt like a “big congratulatory moment.”
“You’re head over heels, you’re just super excited,” she said.
With a cohort of 483 students selected from historically Black colleges and universities, Brown will spend five days immersed in professional networking opportunities. The conference – which kicked off virtually on Tuesday – features sessions on four major themes: financial literacy, leadership, personal branding and 21st-century skill building.
The week culminates in an online recruitment fair with Fortune 500 companies, government agencies and graduate programs, where students can secure jobs and internships with the event’s corporate sponsors, like the institute’s presenting partner Wells Fargo and companies like Amazon, JP Morgan Chase, Boeing and others.
In the opening plenary, TMCF President and CEO Dr. Harry L. Williams emphasized the caliber of the students accepted and the responsibility of participating.
“The team here spent a lot of time evaluating thousands of applications for this opportunity and for you to be selected,” Williams told the students. “Be very intentional this week. Be very intentional in terms of the focus of what you’re doing here and the reason why you’re here. You’re here because you’ve earned that right to be here and because of all of the dedication and commitment you have demonstrated throughout your journey.”
This year’s cohort is the largest class in over five years, with 41% majoring in STEM, 42% in business, 10% in liberal arts and 7% in law school, said TMCF’s Chief Programs Officer Andrea Horton. One third of this year’s cohort includes first-generation students who hold an average GPA of 3.5.
