Newsday.com
1.9.16 | David Olson
Shanequa Levin had to leave college during her second semester because she couldn’t afford it. She wasn’t aware of financial-aid options that may have kept her in school.
On Saturday, Levin, 36, of Huntington Station, was at a teen leadership summit at Adelphi University in part so her 17-year-old son wouldn’t face the same problem.
"I want to find out as much information as I can, to be empowered, to be knowledgeable and to take advantage of all of the resources out there,” Levin said during a break after a workshop.
About 170 high school students and parents attended the all-day summit organized by the Nassau County chapter of Jack and Jill of America Inc., a nonprofit that works to improve educational opportunities for black families.
African-American children are less likely to attend college than students who aren’t black, and those who do attend are less likely to graduate, said one of the speakers, Khalilah Harris, deputy director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans.
