Makeda McKinney, a senior at Leon High School, received her Acceptance Letter Friday.
The Florida A&M University (FAMU) Office of Admissions staff delivered the first round of admissions decisions on Friday, October 1.
To celebrate, Vice President for Students Affairs William E. Hudson, Jr., Ph.D., and other administrators hand delivered acceptance letters to three Leon County students at their high school.
The students who were surprised with their letters of acceptance, were seniors, Makeda McKinney at Leon High School, Desmond Nelson at Amos P. Godby High School, and Amari Wright of Florida State University School.
McKinney, who had only applied for early decision from FAMU, was greeted in the Leon High Auditorium by her parents, Leon County School officials and media cameras.
“This was my plan A. This is what I wanted to do,” McKinney told media gathered for the event.
Presenting the acceptance letters in addition to Hudson were Director of Admission Hugh Durham, Mr. & Ms. FAMU, members of the Admissions Office, current FAMU students, and FAMU Cheerleaders.
During the visits to Godby High and Florida High, Durham and the FAMU delegation walked into the classroom and surprised the students. “It went amazingly. Mission accomplished. We wanted to bring some joy to these students,” said Durham. He added that one of his team’s goals is to ensure that local students understand the amazing opportunities at FAMU.
“We should be enrolling a lot more students from Leon County Public Schools,” said Durham, who was hired as director of Admissions this summer. He said he plans to build stronger relationships and open more lines of communications with the District, so Leon County high schools can become feeder schools for FAMU.
“We should be having more local African American students banging down our doors to get in,” Durham said. “When we look at opportunities to increase our enrollment, it starts at home.”