Home > News > Post Content

Senior Success Scholarship Winner Recalls Her Decision to Attend Oakwood University (1348 hits)

Heaven Mitchell, '18, from Long Island, New York, graduated in May with a major in English and a minor in Spanish. She chose to go to Oakwood University because her aunt attended the school. While touring colleges during her senior year of high school, she did not like the public institutions where she felt she would be merely a number; she wanted to be a name and at Oakwood she would be a name.

Mitchell will be pursuing a master’s degree in public health. After she achieves her advanced degree, she intends to apply to schools in Vietnam and Germany where she plans to teach English as a second language to children.

Mitchell mentioned how helpful development officer Reginald Mattison was in helping her obtain the Senior Success Scholarship, saying he ran all over campus in order to get all the necessary paperwork and to answer her questions.

Applying for all the scholarships she could helped her realize that if she wants something she has to go out and do it for herself. The Senior Success Scholarship also made her realize the importance of giving help to others at school while also still being in school herself. This scholarship allowed Mitchell to graduate on time with her original incoming class. She saw the benefits of her four years at Oakwood pay off by walking across the stage to get her diploma. She knew that one way or another God was going to get her across that stage.

Being from Long Island, she was used to the hustle and bustle of life so she had a great deal of preparation going into college. While at Oakwood, she realized that to achieve her dream some things are going to take more time and effort than expected. Oakwood taught Mitchell how to maneuver through a system and realize what questions to ask and who to ask. If those questions weren’t being answered or the person she was asking wasn’t giving her the answers, she knew to adjust her questions and who she was asking.

Mitchell knows that one can get an education from anywhere, but realized that at Oakwood she would receive a high quality education while also strengthening her relationship with God.