NY Times Scholar is First from Independent School

Chanequa Campbell '05 is among only 21 Recipients of Prestigious Scholarship

Chanequa Campbell ’05 learned on February 19 that she is one of only 21 recipients of this year’s prestigious New York Times College Scholarship.

Chanequa is not only the first Packer student to do so, but also the first from an independent school (116 other Times scholars have been named over the program’s six-year history).

The award will provide her with $7,500 annually for each of four years of college. According to The New York Times: “The winners also receive summer jobs at The New York Times and the mentoring of Times staff members through their college careers and beyond. The program is supported by an endowment from the Starr Foundation, one of the nation’s largest private philanthropies.”

The application, which was due in December, considered academic achievement, financial need, and experience in overcoming significant obstacles in life.

During her sophomore year at Packer, Chanequa was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease Lupus. “I couldn’t play basketball, I couldn’t go out into the sunlight, and I had to walk with a cane,” Chanequa recalls. But she was reluctant to “claim an illness on the application,” as she says.

“Ever since I was diagnosed, I have wanted to do things normally and not get any special treatment. Packer has actually allowed me to continue as a normal, active student — that helped a lot. The more active I was, the more my condition improved.”

These days, Chanequa not only walks unhindered, but she is the captain and leading scorer on the girls varsity basketball team, and she runs track in the spring. She is co-chair of the Diversity Committee, co-leader of the Multicultural Student Association (MSA), and she serves as a group leader in the Peer Support and Leadership Program, PALS.

An essay question on the Times’s application asked her to choose someone, living or dead, whom she admired and would like to meet; she chose playwright August Wilson, whom she admires for his ability to connect multiple generations of African American family history through his “prolific” writing. “Wilson and I have had similar upbringing,” says Chanequa. “We both grew up in working class poor families, yet were sheltered from greater hardships our families endured.”

Chanequa is also among 250 finalists for the national Coca-Cola Scholarship.

“I am thrilled for Chanequa’s success,” says Dr. Bruce Dennis, Head of School. “She is a bright, hard-working and delightful young woman who embodies those qualities we value most in Packer students. Her scholarship recognition brings honor to Chanequa, her family, and our school.”