The Undefeated: UNCF Sending Six McKinley Tech High Grads to Morehouse College

2:27 PM: It all started with a tweet.

On June 9, Johnathan Hill, a 2017 graduate of Morehouse College [a UNCF-member institution], tweeted out a picture congratulating six McKinley Tech High School [in Washington, DC] graduates dubbed the Sensational Six. They were all bound for his alma mater. Black Twitter erupted. Everyone from HBCU Buzz to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) were quick to repost the image of quintessential black excellence.

What happened next was unprecedented.

Not even a week after their graduation, two of the six visited the headquarters of UNCF, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that provides scholarships to 37 private historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) across the country. They came to find more scholarship opportunities yet left having established a relationship with a very powerful man: UNCF president Michael Lomax, a 1968 graduate of Morehouse. The idiom, “It pays to have friends in high places,” couldn’t be more applicable.

Lomax ended up taking a liking to them and invited them back seven days later for what they thought was an “informal meeting.”

It wasn’t—the ’68 graduate surprised them each with $10,000—$2,500 a year for four years—for taking ownership of their financial situation. One student, whose tuition was already paid, received a certificate. >> Read more at TheUndefeated.com.