Future black Northwestern students who need financial aid will soon have another option for paying tuition.
For Members Only and the Northwestern University Black Alumni Association are working together to host a 5K run on the Evanston campus on Saturday, Oct. 7, according to board members from both groups.
Money raised from the 5K will go toward a scholarship for a black NU freshman who stands out academically, according to Scott Montgomery, NUBAA’s co-vice president of programming and events. The student who receives the scholarship will be informed after he or she is selected, he said.
The specific details of the scholarship haven’t been worked out yet because planning is still in its preliminary stages, Montgomery said.
“The 5K is a beginning in that direction,” he said.
According to Montgomery, “the new award will follow the same procedure” as all other financial aid scholarships at NU. He added that any incoming black students could be eligible if they demonstrate financial need.
“They could be from Alaska, New York,” Montgomery said.
NUBAA President Ce Cole Dillon said the association hopes to establish the 5K as an annual event. Dillon said NUBAA’s current scholarship fund is aimed only at current students.
The new scholarship will be for incoming students because no scholarship currently exists for them at NU.
“As alumni, we are very concerned about dropping numbers of African-American undergraduates,” Dillon said.
She also said the association would like to reach into the inner city and reward students who are bright and underserved. She said many inner-city students feel they can’t matriculate at NU due to high tuition costs.
The goal of the scholarship is partially to “reach back” and to give back to the community, she said.
Aside from raising money for a scholarship, Montgomery said one of NUBAA’s purposes is to strengthen alumni relationships with undergraduates. By coordinating the 5K run with FMO, Montgomery said NUBAA is staying active on campus. And because the run is open to everyone, Montgomery said the event will help NUBAA reach out to the rest of the campus.
“Anybody who wants to participate can participate,” Montgomery said.
FMO coordinator and Weinberg sophomore Julian Hill said FMO will help plan and publicize the 5K run and will assist the day of the run in many ways, such as handing out water to participants.
Montgomery said he hopes there will eventually be enough scholarship money to cover a student’s tuition for all four years at NU. He said he hopes the scholarship will keep students involved with the university after they graduate.
“Hopefully once they graduate, they’ll appreciate that and give back,” he said.
Reach Christina Amoroso at [email protected].
