The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Student gets $25,000 Beyoncé scholarshi­p

- By Denver Ellison Denver.Ellison@ajc.com BY

Imagine waking up and realizing you had a gift from award-winning musical artist Beyoncé. Well, one metro-Atlanta college student did.

Kameron Willis of Morehouse College is one of eight winners of the 2018-2019 Homecoming Scholars Award Program by Beyoncé. The scholarshi­p, specifical­ly dedicated to Historical­ly Black Colleges and Universiti­es, gifts $25,000 to each winning student for their studies.

The rising sophomore said he called his mom imme- diately after he saw the announceme­nt.

“I had to look four times to make sure that was my name,” Willis said. “I was in disbelief.”

Willis, a Cleveland, Ohio native, mentioned that the scholarshi­p announce- ment came at a great time because he and his mother were struggling to figure out how to pay for his next year of school. At Morehouse, Willis is studying biology and wants to pursue a career as a surgeon.

The Homecoming Scholars Award program was announced in April after Beyoncé’s Coachella perfor- mance, where she paid homage to the homecoming week- end experience at HBCUs. According to her website, scholarshi­p winners could be any major, but they had to have a grade point aver- age of 3.5 or above. Willis has a 3.75 GPA.

This isn’t the first time Beyoncé has provided scholarshi­ps for students at HBCUs. Last year, she cel- ebrated the anniversar­y of her album “Lemonade” by awarding scholarshi­ps to four “Formation scholars,” including Morehouse’s neigh- boring institutio­n Spelman College.

Students at Bethune-Cook- man, Wilberforc­e, Xavier, Tuskegee, Texas Southern, Fisk and Grambling State were also awarded the Home- coming scholarshi­p.

 ?? CONTRIBUTE­D KAMERON ?? Kameron Willis, a rising sophomore at Morehouse College, is one of eight winners in Beyoncé’s 2018-2019 Homecoming Scholars Award Program.
CONTRIBUTE­D KAMERON Kameron Willis, a rising sophomore at Morehouse College, is one of eight winners in Beyoncé’s 2018-2019 Homecoming Scholars Award Program.

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