Scholarship Award – Making Strides

Frances Selena Johnson – “Making Strides” Award

The Frances Selena Johnson – “Making Strides” Award is a one-year award in recognition of both male and female high school seniors attending Mecklenburg County schools who have made significant academic improvement over a two-year period.

This scholarship is named in honor of our Soror Frances Selena Johnson, a graduate of Bennett College for Women, who joined the local Charlotte school district in 1955 as an elementary school librarian. Throughout her tenure, she worked with numerous superintendents, principals, and teachers. She also educated thousands of children from many underserved areas. Soror Johnson continued to serve until her retirement after 55 years of service.

In 2005, former Gov. Mike Easley honored her as one of three known educators with 50 or more years of service. And she is noted as Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s longest-serving employee. Soror Johnson’s commitment and dedication to education, the Charlotte Alumnae Chapter are simply astounding. The lobby of the Delta Center on Beatties Ford Rd. is named in her honor for her generous and unselfish support to Delta and to our community.

• Must be a graduating African-American senior
• Must be a student enrolled in a Mecklenburg County public or private high school
• Must have an unweighted cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher and have shown significant improvement in your academics over a two-year period (transcript must reflect two years of high school grades)
• Must plan to attend a two-year or four-year institution of higher education in the U.S. during the upcoming academic year
• Award disbursement will be based on verified college enrollment for Fall 2024