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Madelin Yousef wasn\u2019t overly concerned about the hurricanes themselves; however, the 18-year-old was more concerned about how she\u2019d balance her senior year responsibilities in a short span of time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe scholarships, the colleges, the speeches, making sure I stayed on top \u2013 that\u2019s what was going through my mind,\u201d she told The Consortium while preparing for the commencement ceremony.<\/p>\n
<\/a>CHS 2018 graduating class students (Credit: KGP Virgin Islands)<\/p><\/div>\n
Despite an irregular school year, Miss Yousef still managed to garner the Valedictorian spot, a $3,000 scholarship from the JROTC program, and a partial scholarship of $22,000 for her four years at Iowa State University. While at Iowa State, she plans to pick up creative writing. The school wasn\u2019t her first choice, but the aspiring creative writer and motivational speaker doesn\u2019t believe she\u2019ll end up there by chance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my religion \u2013 Islam \u2013 the Arabic term \u2018Maktoob,\u2019 meaning \u2018written,\u2019 serves an important purpose in teaching people that things occur because it is meant to be, and it is written by the hand of God,\u201d she said during her valedictory address.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Madelin Yousef, Valedictorian (Credit: Wyndi Ambrose, VIC)<\/p><\/div>\n
Her mother, Samira Yousef, believes that the younger Yousef\u2019s destiny for success has already been written.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first, she was doubting,\u201d Mrs. Yousef said of her valedictorian. \u201c \u2018The day you were born, I saw success in you. I saw this,\u2019 I told her\u2026.She\u2019s gonna go far.\u201d<\/p>\n
Supportive messages like these show the significance of strong family bonds. Like Yousef, Taylor Lampkin \u2013 the class salutatorian \u2013 expressed thanks to her family members for their support on her journey.<\/p>\n
But for Miss Lampkin, someone special was missing from the ceremony. Her father.<\/p>\n
He died when she was 13, and it still makes the now 17-year-old cry to speak of him. Dealing with his passing, she told The Consortium, has been her biggest challenge. She became emotional when thinking of walking across the Complex stage without seeing his face.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf my father was here, he would be extremely proud of me and how far I\u2019ve come,\u201d she said during her salutatorian speech. \u201cI love and miss him dearly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the blow of her father\u2019s death, Miss Lampkin still has big dreams.<\/p>\n
She is an aspiring criminal attorney and plans to major in political science while minoring in psychology at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. She\u2019ll be receiving close to $18,000 per year to pursue her studies at the historically black university (HBCU).<\/p>\n
<\/a>Taylor Lampkin, Salutatorian (Credit: Wyndi Ambrose, VIC)<\/p><\/div>\n
The entire 2018 class racked up more than three million in scholarship monies from universities, colleges, and trade schools, according to CHS Principal Janasee Sinclair.<\/p>\n
Two scholarships came as a surprise at the end of Keynote Speaker Akeem McIntosh\u2019s address. Mr. McIntosh, a 2008 CHS alumnus, said he and other members of his class had been raising scholarship monies for some time. Denali Nicholas and Darwin Christian III received mega-sized checks in an unexpected conclusion to McIntosh\u2019s speech.<\/p>\n
Later in the ceremony, Ayanna Willie was also awarded a scholarship from the CHS Class of \u201979.<\/p>\n
Alumni representing classes dating back to 1968 were also present to witness the 2018 commencement, which marked the high school\u2019s 50th anniversary.<\/p>\n
Scholarships Awarded During the Ceremony<\/strong><\/p>\n Recipient: Denali Nicholas<\/p>\n Amount: $2,300 (Sheldon Browne Scholarship)<\/p>\n Sponsor: CHS Class of 2008<\/p>\n Recipient: Darwin Christian III<\/p>\n Amount: $2,300 (Zidit Eastman Scholarship)<\/p>\n Sponsor: CHS Class of 2008<\/p>\n Recipient: Ayanna Willie<\/p>\n Amount: $1,000<\/p>\n Sponsor: CHS Class of \u201979 Alumni Association<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Feature Image: Brenda Rodriguez (left) and Jahneazia Villar (right) pose for a selfie. The two have received softball scholarships to\u00a0Monroe College<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>and to\u00a0<\/span>Universidad Metropolitana<\/a><\/span>, respectively.<\/em><\/p>\n June 28, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n This article was last updated at 11:36 p.m.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ST. CROIX \u2013 It was a full house at the St. Croix Educational Complex Wednesday as well-wishers came to celebrate Central High School\u2019s 50th anniversary and the 135 students comprising the L.I.T. Class of 2018. L.I.T. stands for Legendary Incomparable and Tremendous. And in many ways, their senior year experience has truly been incomparable. At […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":64667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1078,11,191,147],"tags":[7606,1217,5285],"yoast_head":"\n