“I knew I needed a college education to improve my situation with the resources and access it provides,” the Detroit native says. “I knew the only way I could get there is if I got a scholarship. Thankfully, I had an unwavering discipline to stay focused and earned a full ride to Michigan. It really saved my life.”
...after graduating from the University of Michigan and joining Teach For America as a middle school teacher in St. Louis, Chanel recently returned to Ann Arbor for one of her proudest moments yet. This time, it was to accompany her former student Briahna Thomas to freshman orientation at U-M.
“Everyone thought that just because I was a low-income African American student who went to a public school that I wasn’t capable of attending the number one public school in the country,” Briahna says. “But after learning about how Ms. Harris came into high school with a situation similar to mine, I knew I could do it, too.”
Watch the video to learn more about Chanel and Briahna’s road to U-M and click here to read the full story.