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PRESS ROOM: Mount Vernon Student Receives Full Scholarship

HUDSON VALLEY PRESS — Surrounded by family, friends, teammates, and coaches, senior track and field weight and hammer thrower Jannah Sharpe from The Mount Vernon High School signed a National Letter of Intent on February 27 to compete in track and field with Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland. She received a full scholarship from the school.

Published

5 years ago

March 21, 2019

Oakland Post

By The Hudson Valley Press

MOUNT VERNON – Surrounded by family, friends, teammates, and coaches, senior track and field weight and hammer thrower Jannah Sharpe from The Mount Vernon High School signed a National Letter of Intent on February 27 to compete in track and field with Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland. She received a full scholarship from the school.

“Take these next few months of your senior year as seriously as you have always taken them,” Principal Ronald Gonzalez told Sharpe during the ceremony. “And carry yourself through the next four years the way that you have carried yourself. Continue to make your mom and your family proud and don’t forget us here at Mount Vernon High School. I know that you will have a great career track-wise. But what you do with your education is going to be bigger than anything you will do in track and field.”

She’s competed in track and field all four years at the high school.

“It has been great to watch her go from a little ninth-grader who barely knew what to do to a senior who is hungry and wants to win everything no matter what,” said Charles Winslow, MVHS track and field coach. “No matter how big the other kids are, no matter how stacked the competition is, she’s out there giving her 100 percent.”

The speeches came from her coaches, former coaches, friends and teammates, as well as her mother Tarikah Wajid, and her father, Timothy Sharpe.

“I’m proud of what Jannah has accomplished,” said Wajid. “It was her goal from junior high school to get an athletic scholarship or an academic scholarship. She knew she was a talented athlete but she continued to work on her technique and skills that are necessary in track.”

Sharpe is currently ranked No. 10 in the U.S. and No. 3 in New York State for women’s high school hammer throwing. She has the furthest hammer throw and weight throw in Section IX.

She said her only goal now is to beat the school record.

“I want to thank everyone for coming,” Jannah Sharpe said, after the signing and at the end of the ceremony. “I’ve been working at this my whole four years at Mount Vernon High School and now I see everything is paying off. It’s nice to see.… This is my ultimate goal.”

About Mount Vernon City School District

With more than 8,000 students in 16 schools, the Mount Vernon City School District is committed to providing a quality education to its children as well as developing programs that meet the diverse academic and social needs of its students.

This article originally appeared in the Hudson Valley Press.

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Laphonza Butler Becomes California’s Newest U.S. Senator

Two days after California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that Laphonza Butler would fill the U.S. Senate seat of the late Dianne Feinstein, the new senator was sworn in on Capitol Hill by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.

Published

7 months ago

October 10, 2023

Oakland Post

Laphonza Bulter was the president of Emily’s List. Wikimedia Commons photo.

Replacing the Late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Butler Becomes the 3^rd Black Woman to Serve in Upper Chamber

By Lauren Victoria Burke,

NNPA Newswire contributor

Flanked by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and California Sen. Alex Padilla as she took the oath, Butler than received a round of applause by senators of both parties.

After the swearing-in, President Joe Biden called Butler to congratulate her, the White House said.

“I am honored to accept Gov. Newsom’s nomination to be a U.S. Senator for a state I have long called home,” Butler said in a statement Monday. “I am humbled by the Governor’s trust. Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s leadership and legacy are immeasurable. I will do my best to honor her by devoting my time and energy to serving the people of California and the people of this great nation.”

She will be the third Black woman to serve in the U.S. Senate, preceded by Illinois’s Carol Mosely Braun, and current V.P. Kamala Harris. Butler is also the first openly lesbian Black U.S. senator: Her wife, Neneki Lee, held the Bible during Butler’s swearing-in.

Since 2021, Butler has been serving as the president of EMILY’s List. The fundraising platform supports and funds women candidates and amplifies issues that disproportionately impact women.

Before that she was involved in labor organizing, elected president of California’s largest union, Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

“As the president of SEIU 2015, Laphonza Butler led the fight for fair wages and respect for home care workers,” said Mary Kay Henry, current SEIU president, in a statement Monday. “As president of SEIU California, she was a driving force in winning the first statewide $15 an hour minimum wage in the nation. She has been a strong ally electing pro-women candidates as president of Emily’s List.”

Fellow California Sen. Alex Padilla also expressed strong support for Butler. “Throughout her career, Laphonza Butler has been a strong voice for working families, LGBTQ rights, and a champion for increasing women’s representation in politics. I’m honored to welcome her to the United States Senate,” Padilla wrote in a statement. “Governor Newsom’s swift action ensures that Californians maintain full representation in the Senate as we navigate a narrow Democratic majority. I look forward to working together to deliver for the people of California.”

Newsom’s decision was not on the political radar screen of most prognosticators.

With the selection of Butler, the decision by California’s Governor did not include any of the currently announced candidates for U.S. Senate in 2024 in California. Those current candidates include veteran members of Congress Barbara Lee and Adam Schiff and relative newcomer Katie Porter.

“As we mourn the enormous loss of Senator Feinstein, the very freedoms she fought for — reproductive freedom, equal protection, and safety from gun violence — have never been under greater assault. Laphonza will carry the baton left by Senator Feinstein, continue to break glass ceilings, and fight for all Californians in Washington, D.C.,” wrote Gov. Newsom in a statement released on the evening of October 1 announcing Butler’s appointment.

Butler will be the only Black woman in the Senate. But Delaware Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester is expected to win the Senate seat vacated by Senator Tom Carper. Carper announced he would not run for re-election in 2024 and Rochester announced shortly afterwards that she would run for Carper’s seat.

Butler formally became another addition to the Congressional Black Caucus when she was welcomed with a swearing in by those members later on Tuesday.

Butler grew up in Magnolia, Miss., one of four siblings raised by a single mother. Her father, who suffered from heart disease, passed away when Butler was 16. She attended Jackson State University, an HBCU, graduating in 2001.

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Historic Black University: Multiple Suspects Sought After Shooting Incident at Morgan State University

Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley and Morgan State University Police Chief Lance Hatcher told reporters that the incident happened around 9:25 p.m. when university police officers, on their regular patrol, detected gunfire from the campus. The victims, aged between 18 and 22, which include four men and a woman, sustained injuries that are reported to be non-life-threatening.

Published

7 months ago

October 10, 2023

Oakland Post

Tyler Hall, Morgan State University campus. Morgan State is one of the few historically Black institutions nationally to offer a comprehensive range of academic programs, in business, engineering, education, architecture, social work, and hospitality management. Photo courtesy morgan.edu

By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire

Baltimore police are intensifying their search for multiple suspects involved in a shooting incident that occurred on the campus of Morgan State University, leaving five individuals injured. Among the victims, four are students of the historically Black institution.

“The entire city of Baltimore’s heart aches for the Morgan community, for the victims and their families, and for our city as a whole,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott stated.

Multiple windows were shattered during the incident, and school officials said they immediately began active shooter response protocols. Worley said police systematically cleared buildings in pursuit of those responsible. While there are indications that it could have been more than one shooter, authorities could not confirm whether multiple assailants were involved.

Hatcher said university police received notification of the shooting at approximately 9:27 p.m. and sent the first public safety alert to the community at 9:30 p.m., followed by four other notifications.

At approximately 11:45 p.m., city police announced via Twitter that the incident was no longer an “active shooter situation.” University officials announced via social media that the shelter-in-place order had been lifted, and shuttle services resumed at around 12:30 a.m.

Worley emphasized that SWAT officers meticulously combed through every floor of the buildings they searched, conducting two sweeps, before lifting the shelter-in-place order.

Authorities are urging anyone with information to come forward and assist in their efforts to bring those responsible to justice.

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Acting President of Temple University Dies Suddenly After Memorial Service

“President Epps was a devoted servant and friend who represented the best parts of Temple,” the university said in a statement. “She spent nearly 40 years of her life serving this university, and it goes without saying her loss will reverberate through the community for years to come.”

Published

7 months ago

October 3, 2023

Oakland Post

JoAnne A. Epps had served Temple University for 40 years. Courtesy photo via NBC News.

NBC News

Referred to by a colleague as a ‘calm force in troubled waters,’ Temple University Acting President suddenly died Tuesday after falling ill at a memorial service, officials at the Philadelphia school said.

While attending a memorial for Charles L. Blockson, JoAnne A. Epps, 72, slumped in her chair onstage while someone else was speaking and was taken to the hospital where she was pronounced dead.