Brittany Thomas, 16 year old sophomore at McNair Academic High School is headed to Harvard for college science courses this summer. She is taking steps towards becoming a biomedical engineer, inspired by a story in a magazine about an African American female who is a stem cell researcher. In that moment Brittany knew that with hard work and dedication she too could enter a field that was represented by very few African American females.
She loves science and math. Last summer, Brittany graduated from her summer science camp, Proyecto Science at NJCU. So instead of having idle time on her hands, her mom and dad whisked her off to tour colleges to whet her appetite for higher education. Brittany also participated in Mock Trials and had the opportunity to visit Harvard earlier this school year.
Her high PSAT scores makes her an attractive recruit for Universities around the country and Brittany routinely receives information about various programs and opportunities for scholars at the high school level. One of which was an opportunity to apply for the Harvard Summer intensive program. She was accepted and will dorm at Harvard for seven weeks and take advanced science courses that can be transferred to college upon completion of high school. She hopes one day to also attend Harvard as a fulltime matriculated student.
Valerie Taylor and Samuel Thomas are proud parents and they believe that Brittany’s story can be inspiring to others because “she has been through some painful losses and tragedy in her life and nothing has stopped her from succeeding.”
Brittany acknowledges the challenges of living in a community charged with violence and filled with people who are negatively affected by the surroundings. She credits her parents, little sister and the death of her uncle and pop-pop for giving her the motivation to focus on her academic and career goals.
“My parents have always been very supportive of me and the death of my uncle really motivated me. It showed me that life is really short so you have to make the best of it. Kiara, her 10 year old little sister motivates me, she looks up to me and I know have to be a good role model for her. I have to stay on a straight path so I can help her become a good person,” said Brittany.
She is glad she is at a school where the message from her peers is IT IS COOL TO BE SMART. “All teens need parents to push them, to love them and to encourage them and teens need this from other teens to,” she said.
“Keep hope alive!” she said, “You have to know that for every down in life, there is an up in life. You have to see the positive in everything you do. You have to take everything that happens and use it as motivation to do better things.”
Brittany’s Uncle and Pop-pop are gone too soon. Both grief and love paves the path of this inspiring teenager on her journey to excellence.