Seheri Swint, a 2017 graduate of the Johns Hopkins School of Education, has been awarded a Luce Scholarship for 2018-2019.
Seheri, who holds a master’s degree in urban education, grew up in inner-city Detroit and was awarded a Gates Millennium Scholarship that allowed her to pursue higher education at Johns Hopkins. Last year, she delivered the student speech at the School of Education’s graduation ceremony.
After graduation, Seheri remained at Johns Hopkins to pursue a master’s degree in film studies. While in Baltimore, she has been engaged with youth in our community. Through a five-year study at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, she acts as a peer mentor to 30 eighth-grade students and co-leads an effort to teach urban students skills in communication, coping and problem-solving. The public health project was inspired by her own experience with urban blight in Detroit.
Awarded to 18 students nationwide this year, the highly competitive Luce is a 12-month program providing language training and individualized professional placement in Southeast/South Asia for young professionals in a variety of fields who have had limited exposure to Asia. It recognizes individuals with an outstanding capacity for leadership, a record of high achievement, and mature clearly defined career interests with evidence of potential for professional accomplishments.
Seheri’s placement, which has yet to be determined, will have her concentrating on either teaching writing and filmmaking workshops or producing short films and advocacy-focused media project. After her Luce year, she will return to Johns Hopkins to complete her master’s degree in films studies. She intends to pursue a career as a feature-length filmmaker and lead a nonprofit that teaches filmmaking to inner-city students.
