Every now and then when Oladapo Ogundimu would drop his daughter, Felicia Ogundimu, off at the School Without Walls, he would allow himself to dream.
As he would drive away from the high school located within George Washington University’s Foggy Bottom campus, he would look in the rearview mirror to see the hordes of backpack-wearing GW students walking down G Street on their way to class. Maybe, he’d say to himself, that would be his own daughter one day.
But how?
On Monday, a proud father got his answer.
Felicia Ogundimu was one of 10 high school students within the District of Columbia to be awarded a Stephen Joel Trachtenberg Scholarship, which covers tuition, room, board, books and fees throughout four years at GW for incoming first-year students from D.C.
For Oladapo Ogundimu, a dream that once lingered in the rearview mirror was now squarely in front of him as the reality of his daughter attending GW—with full financial support, at that—began to settle.
“I never knew it would come true,” he said. “Seeing her today in this space, we are so glad. We are so happy. Very grateful. I can go out there and tell the people she is in George Washington University.”
Born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, Felicia Ogundimu will be the first in her family to attend college. It’s well warranted for Oladapo Ogundimu to shout it from the rooftops.
The entire family gathered for the reveal to surprise Felicia Ogundimu, who believed she had been summoned to GW’s Admissions Welcome Center on the first floor of the University Student Center Monday morning for further interviewing. But when she walked into the room and saw her parents, two siblings and a contingent of university officials waiting for her, she realized no further interviews were necessary.
She cupped her hands over her mouth, momentarily stunned, before sharing the moment with her family.
“I am so ecstatic and so happy,” said Felicia Ogundimu, the student body president at the School Without Walls, who plans to study mechanical engineering at GW. “I’m so happy to see all my family here and my school supporting me. It’s just an amazing feeling.”
Launched in 1989 by then-GW President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg under the name 21st Century Scholars, the program has enrolled more than 200 high school students from the city. GW selects these students based on high school academic performance, strength of curriculum, recommendations, leadership qualities, community service, extracurricular activities and achievements. The university's Board of Trustees renamed the scholarship in 1999 to honor Trachtenberg’s decades of service to GW.
The reveal day each spring, when members of the GW admissions and leadership teams travel to the various high schools to surprise the recipients with their SJT scholarship offers, is an annual highlight at the university.
“SJT scholars are an amazing cohort that are not only committed to academic excellence but have also shown true leadership potential,” said Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Ben Toll. “They've made impacts in their community, impacts in their high school. They've started clubs and organizations. They've done their own independent research, and we have full confidence that once they come to GW, they're just going to take it to a whole new level.”
The impact is mutual. While the full-ride scholarship provides a life-changing opportunity for students, it also strengthens the GW community by welcoming highly motivated future leaders from within the District.
“At GW, we take great pride in being deeply rooted in Washington, D.C.,” said President Ellen M. Granberg. “The SJT Scholars Program reflects that commitment, ensuring that exceptionally talented students from the District have access to the full promise of a GW education. When students who have grown up here share their perspectives and experiences, they strengthen our classrooms, deepen our connections to the city and help all of us better understand the community we call home.”
SJT scholars come from diverse backgrounds across the city, united by a shared mission to use their skills and interests to create change—not just locally, but globally. That mission came to life across multiple reveal rooms throughout the city, each carrying its own moment of emotion, celebration and mostly pure joy.
At Dunbar High School, senior Shaunah Boone Williams was told to report to the school’s media center as a meeting place for a routine field trip. When she arrived, she noted the excited commotion and was worried she was interrupting an event.
Until she realized everyone was there for her. And when she caught a glimpse of GW’s mascot George by the window, she knew why. Her hard work had paid off–quite literally.
“I didn’t even realize it was for me until I saw GW in the corner, and I was like ‘Oh, it’s for me. I got it—I really got it!’” said Boone Williams.
It was a dream come true for Boone Williams, who Dunbar principal Latisha Coleman joked had manifested becoming an SJT scholar by wearing GW clothes to school nearly every day for the past week. While on Monday she was outfitted in Dunbar clothing since she thought she would be representing her school on the field trip, the feeling was all the same. Boone Williams is most looking forward to joining a GW community where “people will have like-minded goals but are still very diverse in their culture and beliefs and what life holds for them afterward.”
She too will be studying mechanical engineering, and she has already interned with an aerospace company and participated in the University of Maryland’s Women in Engineering Aspire! Program, where she designed a small-scale racing car.
“This scholarship means free learning–it means she gets to stay on her path,” her mother, Sharn Boone Williams, said, proudly noting her daughter’s lifelong ambition to be a Black woman in STEM.
Boone-Williams also serves on D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Lewis Ferebee’s student board. Ferebee, a GW alumnus, was present for Boone-Williams’ reveal and acknowledged what a special annual day this has become for students in the district.
“For me, it’s very fulfilling because I know what’s on the other side of the door of the education experience they’re going to get,” Ferebee said.
He said programs like the SJT Scholarships allow students to pursue college degrees at a “phenomenal university” in their own backyard while strengthening the city they call home.
St. John’s College High School senior Rahsaan Bernard Jr. has already done that, using his skillset to build custom computers and tutor 15 to 20 students each semester in technology and math, among other various ventures.
He was overcome with emotion when he learned he could further pursue those ambitions tuition-free in his hometown. Bernard entered a conference room Monday thinking he was meeting with his counselors when he saw his mother and two sisters—and the traveling GW party—in the corner.
Immediately, he put his hands to his head and stood in disbelief, barely mustering up the ability to repeat “what in the world?”
“I’m just speechless,” said Bernard, who is interested in studying entrepreneurship and innovation at GW School of Business. “I pray for things like this, and I work so hard, and I’m just really grateful and thankful for the opportunity.”
The feeling is mutual for his proud family.
“It’s something I really can’t put into words,” said Bernard’s mother, DeLise Bernard. “College is a time when a kid can move into adulthood, and it’s really great to be able to do that without thinking about any kind of financial concerns.”
McKinley Technology High School’s Yasmine Shaner, Theodore Roosevelt High School’s Edar Argueta, District of Columbia International School’s Layla Leiva and Celina Zhang and Georgetown Day School’s Emilio Perez, in addition to students from Benjamin Banneker High School and Sidwell Friends School, were also offered scholarships on Monday.
