The Southern Education Foundation would like to formally congratulate Spelman College rising senior Thekia Cheeseborough who recently finished her year-long internship with SEF this May. Thekia came to SEF as a Spelman College Social Justice fellow and assisted Vice President Steve Suitts, researching a variety of important PK-12 issues in the region through the school year.

Thekia was recently selected as Spelman College’s Dalai Lama Fellow and was awarded a $10,000 fellowship to put into action a proposal of her own design to assist teenage mothers and their children to access academic workshops, skill building trainings, and employment options in the Atlanta community. For Thekia, this fellowship means change, as she explains, “I am constantly engaged in discussions about how I am going to change the world in the future. However, as a Dalai Lama Fellow, I am no longer being asked to map out my plan for future change; instead, I am privileged to make that change today.”