‘We did it, Mom!’ Booker T. senior gets big scholarship. First-generation college student
When her brother died in an Overtown shooting in 2011, Azorea McGill thought her life was over.
“I died. It felt like I died with him,” said McGill, 18. “It was devastating. I thought I wouldn’t go far after that.”
Still, the senior at Booker T. Washington Senior High School pushed through. She focused on her grades and got involved in extracurricular activities, including Sports Konnect, a Miami nonprofit that uses sports to teach kids about problem-solving skills. There, inspired by her brother’s memory, she completed a project to study why boys and young men enter gangs and taught elementary school students about science, including engineering and robotics.
In addition, she worked a 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday night-early Saturday shift at House of Mac, a Miami soul food restaurant, and then weekend shifts at Red Rooster, the popular Overtown restaurant, for $14 an hour. She wanted to save money to get a MacBook laptop as well as help her mom, a security guard and UberEats delivery driver, make ends meet, because of her absent father.
On Tuesday, McGill’s efforts, including 465 community service hours and a 3.6 GPA, got recognized. The Biscayne Bay Kiwanis Club, a 72-year-old volunteer organization in South Florida that helps children in Overtown, Allapattah and Midtown Miami, awarded her a scholarship valued at $30,000. The Kiwanis scholarship, along with other scholarships and grants she has received, should cover most of her costs for the four years.
Since 2012, the club has given a scholarship to one graduating student at Booker T. Washington, Miami’s oldest Black high school, which opened in 1926.
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McGill broke down in tears when she heard the news during a special scholarship event at the Overtown school auditorium, decorated in an Oscars theme with black, gold and red star balloons and two 6-foot-tall gold Oscar statuettes. About 300 people attended, dressed in gowns and suits.
“I’m nervous; I’m excited. I feel pretty much all of the feelings,” said McGill, moments after receiving the giant check.
With the money, McGill plans to attend Alabama State University in Montgomery and study chemistry. She will be a first-generation college student. She aims to become a forensic scientist, because she’s “nosy,” she said, and likes solving puzzles; ultimately, she wants to impact the criminal justice system and better use DNA to prevent innocent people from landing behind bars.
‘We did it, Mom!’
Miami attorney Rick Freedman, the scholarship chair and a past president of the Kiwanis Club, said the story behind this year’s winner was compelling.
“Once we made the decision the other night, I sat down and wrote the speech as I always do. And I get teary eyed and nervous just when I’m writing it and then when I’m reading it up there ... I’m just so excited to know that in the next two words with their name, I’m changing their life forever,” he said. “It’s really cool.”
Freedman leads a committee of four club members who read over about 300 pages of applications. They then interviewed each nominee until they chose 15, before narrowing it down to four finalists. The four sat in the audience Tuesday waiting to hear the winner’s name.
McGill, who served as senior class president, drama club president and was a member of other student organizations, said she couldn’t sleep Monday night but knew she would be happy regardless of who won.
Freedman, who has been working with inner city schools since the 1990s, joined Kiwanis because a judge invited him to lunch at the club once. A lover of philanthropy, Freedman fit right in.
“I was born with the right chips on the right side of town, with the right color of skin, with the right parents and the right family, and I had every opportunity in the world to succeed. I understand it’s not that way for everyone,” said Freedman, who is a graduate of Miami Beach High School and the University of Florida.
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The club only works with Booker T. Washington for now, but could soon connect with other schools like Miami Central Senior High School in West Little River and Miami Jackson Senior High School in Allapattah.
The club mainly raises funds through an annual gala that attracts hundreds of donors, as well as other events and individual contributions.
After handing her the honor Tuesday, Freedman and McGill left the auditorium to call Monique Kyles to inform her of her daughter’s achievement.
“Oh my God. Oh my God,” said Kyles, cheering on speaker phone. “That’s awesome. I’m speechless.”
“We did it, Mom!” McGill shouted out.
“Yes, we did,” her mom replied in a whisper.
