Thekia Cheeseborough, Class of 2013, was recently named a Dalai Lama Fellow for the 2012-2013 academic year at Spelman College. The Dalai Lama Fellow is a program that is dedicated to working across differences, protecting the environment, diminishing violence and promoting peace and alleviating poverty.

This program is consistent with addressing pertinent and perplexing problems in our society today. It also identifies itself as a perpetual membership in a community dedicated to ethical leadership in an interrelated world. This program is devoted to displaying an intrinsic love toward the people and entities that need it the most, people who the masses neglect.

Cheeseborough is the first Spelman student to participate in this program. This speaks volumes to the HBCU community because of the effect that a young black woman can have in our world full of violence and poverty. She will receive $10,000 to build a project pertaining to the eradication of poverty.

Cheeseborough says, “I am constantly engaged in discussions about how I am going to change the world in the future.” “I wanted to seize the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of teenage girls in my surrounding community by encouraging educational attainment,” said Cheeseborough. “Education is the key that unlocks doors of endless possibilities.” Interestingly, the education that Cheeseborough is receiving at Spelman is unlike any education anywhere else. One must remember that HBCU’s are dedicated to preparing students for social justice in our world of injustice. This program makes social justice for Cheeseborough beyond theoretical but, practical.

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