Celebrating Black History Month With Stories Of University Of Missouri-St. Louis Student, Alumni Excellence

Press release from the University of Missouri-St. Louis:

As the University of Missouri–St. Louis launches its annual commemoration of the triumphs, struggles and contributions of Black Americans with a month of Black History Month programming, we at UMSL Daily took a moment to revisit a year of inspiring stories of UMSL student and alumni accomplishments.

Those featured in the following 10 articles worked hard to achieve their dreams, improve their families’ lives, impact communities and improve health.

As a boy, Alieu Sanneh was incensed watching his parents toil for little money in The Gambia.

Sanneh was a naturally curious kid, always reading, and his family’s situation only strengthened his resolve to further his education. His parents never had the opportunity to go to school, but he would.

“I knew that there were two things that I could do,” he said. “My dad was a farmer, and being a farmer in Gambia means you get stuck in poverty. But I thought, ‘Or I could change my life and become different. Choose education, however hard it is.’ I could just test myself and see if I was good at it.”

Now, Sanneh, who is the son of a farmer and domestic worker, is a doctor after recently completing his PhD in political science at UMSL.
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With an online ministry and responsibility for the care of three generations of her family, UMSL psychology and philosophy student Beauty Cooper didn’t have much room for her own goals.

But after an experience with cancer and then after seeing her daughter, Candace Woodard, graduate from UMSL two years ago, Cooper decided it was her time.

“Of my four siblings, I was the only one to finish high school, and it was always my dream to graduate college,” Cooper said. “I cried so many times at other people’s graduations because I just knew I lost my opportunity. At my daughter’s graduation, I knew I had to come to UMSL and be a student because it was part of my family. It made the school more home, and so that’s why I wanted to come here.”
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Kay Hood was in middle school the first time she ever heard about the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program.

Her mother’s friend had participated in the program for several years, and it was one of the things that first piqued her interest in Japanese culture and traveling to the country one day.

The other was Cartoon Network.

“I used to watch Adult Swim – I probably shouldn’t have been watching it – when I noticed that there was a show called ‘Bleach’ coming on,” Hood said of the popular Japanese animated show. “I thought it was the weirdest name for a show. Then I watched it, and it was the first anime that I actually sat and watched weekly and got really into. ‘Bleach’ really propelled me into the world of anime.”

This press release was produced by the University of Missouri-St. Louis. The views expressed here are the author’s own.