Rosemont's Danyell Mitchell Bound for North Carolina

Two years after moving from Cleveland to Rosemont, Danyell Mitchell is preparing for another big change. The senior will move to Charlotte, N.C., this summer to attend Johnson C. Smith University.

Friday evening, Mitchell received a $500 scholarship from the African American Caucus of Sacramento County in a downtown Sacramento . She’ll add the amount to a $6,500 merit award scholarship she has received.

“It’s a major help,” she said, adding that she’s filled out 50 to 75 scholarship applications in the past year and a half. “I had to keep my faith and keep filling out scholarships–and they’re coming in.”

Mitchell plans to study physical therapy in college, saying she was inspired when she saw physical therapy help her younger cousin, a paraplegic, walk when doctors said she never would. Her grandmother also received physical therapy after having a stroke, she said.

The Rosemont High School senior, who is the president of the school’s Black Student Union, was chosen to read her essay on the problems with the education system in the United States at Friday’s awards ceremony.