AWARD WINNING GROUP—Members of Barack Obama Academy award-winning group with Linda Lane. (Photos by Tené Croom)

“Acknowledge and celebrate the accomplishments of our kids,” is what Saleem Ghubril, executive director, the Pittsburgh Promise, says was at the heart of the Parents for the Promise luncheon.

“This luncheon is the culmination of some work that parents do throughout the year to kind of mobilize other parents in a grassroots initiative around supporting the Promise.”

by Maya Rhodan

NNPA Washington Correspondent

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – When Mecala Holmes was a freshman at Howard University in 2008, she recalls seeing a t-shirt in the school’s book store that read “Howard University, the best four or five years of your life.”

Holmes recalled, “I saw that and thought ‘I’m not going to be here for five years. And then I finished my freshman year and I thought ‘I’m about to finish in five years.”

Holmes, a computer engineering major, decided to take 12 credits every semester to better balance her challenging curriculum with the social opportunities Howard had to offer—from events, to social and service organizations such as Jewels, Inc. a mentoring program she was an active member of throughout college.

Twelve credits per semester, however, wouldn’t help her accrue the 126 she needed to graduate within four years.

Although Holmes had realized she wouldn’t be graduating with the class, watching her friends and peers prepare for their long-awaited commencement without her was emotional for her.

“Last year, I cried on graduation day,” Holmes said. “But if I had graduated last year I wouldn’t have the opportunities I have now. Looking back, I wouldn’t have done it differently.”

Danielle Powell, right, and her spouse Michelle Rogers are photographed in Omaha, Neb., June 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

by Margery A. Beck

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Danielle Powell was going through a hard time in the spring of 2011, just months away from graduating from a conservative Christian college in Nebraska. She had fallen in love with another woman, a strictly forbidden relationship at a school where even prolonged hugs were banned.

Students celebrate their recent graduation from the Year Up intensive training program

(BlackNews.com) -- Year Up is a one-year, intensive training program that provides low-income young adults, ages 18-24, with a combination of hands-on skill development, college credits, and corporate internships. Their program emphasizes academic and professional rigor, setting expectations high for quality of work and professional behavior. A strong structure guides students through the steps necessary for achieving success in the classroom and the workplace.