Shamiah Hall of Lenoir County Early College High School is heading to North Carolina A&T State University as a Cheatham-White Scholar, winner of the university’s top full-ride merit scholarship.

When Shamiah Hall awoke in the wee hours of Friday morning to work on a project, she checked her email out of habit. The message she found there may well have opened the door to her future – word that she had won a full-ride merit scholarship to her college of choice, North Carolina A&T State University.

“I am ecstatic,” the Lenoir County Early College High School senior said this week, as the impact of her being named a Cheatham-White Scholar began to sink in.

The four-year scholarship covers student fees, housing, meals, textbooks, a laptop, supplies, travel, and personal expenses. It also provides four summers of fully funded enrichment and networking opportunities, which may include international travel and study. The university named 20 Cheatham-White Scholars in 2023.

Shamiah became a 2024 scholarship finalist after being accepted into A&T’s Honors College – on the basis of grades, recommendations and essays – and completing a video interview.

She apparently sealed the deal during a February weekend when the university brought the finalists together for campus tours and interviews. Shamiah left Greensboro impressed with A&T.

“At that point, I absolutely knew that I was going to that school, even if I didn’t receive the scholarship,” she said. “I knew hands down that this was a place that I belonged. That weekend, it really felt like a family. I could already see how committed the faculty is to their students’ success.”

In two weeks, she will graduate with a high school diploma from Early College and an associate of science degree from Lenoir Community College, stepping stones on her journey toward a biology major and a career in medicine, possible pediatrics.

In the meantime, she will present the findings of the student research she’s done since February through UNC-Wilmington’s CCURE program. She’s investigating the impact of plastics on the growth of dinoflagellates. 

As with the Cheatham-White, Shamiah’s Early College career portends her future. She attended N.C. Governor’s School in natural science and was a member of her school’s Science Olympiad team. An AmeriCorps tutor, she is secretary of the Phi Theta Kappa honor society and a President’s List student at LCC.