From L to R: Tiarra Jones, Caleb Daniels, Alayjah Harris, Tyrese Prince, Morgan Eason, Kayla Boulware, Keyanna Nurse, Zanaya Ross, Yaashani Tota, Ashanty Davidson, Acharee Williams, Syehiim Ross, Shajeeah Everett, Danielle Edwards with (sittlng in front) Donte Williams and Zaire McLaine as they celebrate their successes together at Cheyney University.
Photo: Jim Brown
By Jim Brown
There is a pathway for students to pursue a college education in Philadelphia. The students and a former principal at Paul Robeson High School in West Philadelphia have been creating this pathway for their students since 2018.
Former Robeson principal and three-time Principal of the Year, Richard Gordon spoke recently about a fascinating system that has helped his former and current students realize their college dreams to excel and accomplish their goals at a local HBCU — Cheyney University.
Getting the best out of students at Paul Robeson can be challenging due to their early struggles and poverty in West Philadelphia and surrounding areas. Many of these students have overcome heartbreaking personal losses, community violence, housing instability, or family challenges to get where they are today.
But Gordon knew that if he was to be a successful principal and leader of young people, he had to be the example of a leader who also graduated from Lincoln University. He needed to encourage his former students to improve their academic standards so that they could pursue their college of interest, and he would be right there for them in any way he could.
Principal Richard Gordon takes selfies with students in the Marcus Foster Student Union Building on Cheyney’s campus.
Photo: Jim Brown
“When we had our annual college fair at Paul Robeson, what was happening is that we started having Cheyney recruiters coming into our building, and we noticed that since 2018, there was an increasing number of opportunities being created through Cheyney through the Keystone Scholarship Program,” Gordon said. We would see that more and more students were having access to those scholarship opportunities, and that was noted by the fact that students were getting accepted to Cheyney, like on the spot, during these annual college fairs that we were having at the school.”
Enrollment continued to expand after the COVID-19 pandemic, Gordon said.
“Cheyney provided that opportunity for the students to attend a quality university, because [the school] made it a point to make sure that access to those scholarship opportunities through the Keystone Scholarships really provided an opportunity for college to be affordable, and within reach of a lot of our families who struggled through the pandemic.”
During a recent interview with the SUN, several students described how attending college and pursuing their degrees at Cheyney University has changed their lives.
Zaire McLaine, a junior and former Mr. Sophomore, vice president of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, member of the Keystone Honors Society, and Robeson class of 2023 graduate, and the face of Cheyney University, spoke about what it took to get to where he is today.
“I would say what helped me turn around my life was in my junior year (at Robeson) when my life flashed before my eyes when I was in an apartment fire,” McLaine said. “It showed me to treat everything like I want to make something out of it, and that’s what I did. I changed my life around going into college.”
“Being on billboards in Philadelphia — it feels very, very good, because for myself, I’ve always needed somebody to look up to,” he said. “So, the fact that I’m here — [and] I’m the person that everybody looks up to whenever a new student comes here and they say, ‘I saw you (on the billboard) and that’s what I wanted to work myself up to.’”
“Principal Gordon has been a huge influence on me,” McLaine said, “Being that I don’t have a father figure in my life since I came to Paul Robeson, he was the one that stepped up and helped me along the way. When I first came to Robeson, I was a bad kid. I was always in the halls during my freshman year. It was horrible. After seeing me in the halls, he made sure that I was doing what I needed to do, and he took me under his wing and made sure that I was cool.”
Zaire is featured on billboards in North Philadelphia at Broad and Lehigh Avenue and near Southwest Philadelphia in the Woodland Avenue section near the Island Avenue intersection.
The success of these students at Cheyney cannot be overestimated as these students are leaders in Student Government (SGA), Royal Court leaders, campus ambassadors and varsity athletes and even appear on billboards in Philadelphia.
Donte Williams, a junior and current president of Delta Pi Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, also spoke about the role Gordon played in his journey to Cheyney.
“I would say that Principal Gordon gave us those tools early on with the different programs and encouraged us to prepare for college,” Williams said. “For me, he always encouraged me to be part of the “Pipeline Program” at the University of Pennsylvania, and we would go there and learn different things like mentorship, and I felt like that helped my leadership skills. So, when I came to Cheyney, it kind of transitioned those skills over so, when we got to the next stage in life, there was nothing else left to do but to take hold of it.”
“Cheyney provided me [with] everything as a student,” Williams added. “Being at college, especially at Cheyney, it shows you the ups and downs of life. It allowed me to grow as a man, because coming here as a young adult is your first time coming to the school — you’re on your own and nobody will tell you the right way to do it. So, you have to figure it out. Cheyney allowed me to do that in numerous ways. When I first got here, I came without a scholarship, so I had to earn a scholarship. So, in my first semester I got a 4.0, and the semester after that I got a full ride scholarship. So, it kind of helps with your virtue and dedication to a lot of things.”
Morgan Eason, a student trustee on Cheney’s board of trustees and a former Delta Sigma Theta president, Miss NAACP and membership chairperson, spoke about the significance Gordon played in her life at a difficult time.
“I would say he (Gordon) was one of the greatest gifts that I got in that period of my life,” Eason said. “I had just lost my dad, and I didn’t think I could do much or go really far in school. But I was able to accomplish a lot of things, [because] he believed in me and all of my peers and put me in a lot of rooms that I initially didn’t feel like I belonged in, and I felt like that space that he taught me that you deserved to be in every room that you walk in. He said, ‘Walk in there like you’re getting ready to make a difference.’”
“Cheyney provided [for] me as a student what a leader truly is,” Eason added. “Good leaders are able to accomplish a lot of things, and I’ve learned that good leaders make even greater leaders, so I try to pour into the student body so that when I leave, they have something to keep fighting for.”
Keyanna Nurse, a junior, who’s the current president of the Delta Tau Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta and a member of the NAACP, talked about how her high school experience at Robeson prepared her for her transition to Cheyney.
“I felt that Robeson had prepared me by putting me in certain rooms, which led me to meeting the governor and being able to protest for our rights as students,” Nurse said.
Activities like leading protests for air conditioning and for more opportunities for students at Paul Robeson High School helped Nurse to come into her own, she said.
“It helped me to be able to get that voice that I needed to make that change for students,” she said.
“Cheyney has provided me with everything,” Nurse said. “Right now, I’m now in a program to become a doctor. They’re paying for my M-CAT and things for me to study for the M-CAT. They put me in different rooms with [the] doctors I want to be. So, they’re giving me a lot of opportunities to help me become a better person, and to become a better doctor in the future.”
Tyrese Prince, a senior who is the 2024-25 president of the Iconic Models and the 2024-25 Mr. Cheyney University (the school’s 12th), discussed how he prepared for college after graduating from Paul Robeson High School.
Gordon and Dr. Ingram were probably the two most important staff members at Robeson that helped him with his transition to college life, Prince said.
“Throughout the application process when I was applying to Cheyney University, I was not coming on a full ride (scholarship),” Prince said. “I gained my full ride once I got here, being a Keystone Honors scholar. There was a scholarship program called the Philadelphia Educational Fund that helped me get additional funding to pay for about $4,000 worth of expenses. I was granted a scholarship worth $5,000.”
“Cheyney provided me with opportunities,” Prince said. “Prior to Cheyney, I never stepped into rooms with millionaires [or experienced] going to things like the Mayor’s Ball, [or] flying out to conferences representing my institution and speaking at these events. They’ve taught me life lessons that will go beyond these four walls.”
“It’s interesting being a first-generation student,” Prince said. “My mother went to Virginia State University, but she didn’t finish, and only went for two years. Unfortunately, she had to depart (passed away). I feel like I’m doing something good and making my parents proud, and it doesn’t stop here for me, because I do plan on getting my masters in Higher Education and my doctorate in Higher Education Administration.”
Yaashani Tota, a sophomore from Trinidad, is the vice president of All Nations, member of the Cheyney Valley Ball team, member of the NAACP D-Max Mental Health Club, member of the Pre-Law and Psychology Club and the National Council of Negro Women.
“Paul Robeson [High School) prepared me for community engagement, because we work so much like a family coming to this school,” Tota said. “It was easy to adjust to college life, because it was so similar to what we had in high school. A lot of times we were disciplined in rules and our structure in our school. It passes through me and was instilled in me to be the person I am when I’m walking around the campus.”
“Cheyney has provided me with opportunities and a chance to network and explore outside [the] my shell of who I am,” Tota continued.
“While I’m figuring out who I can be, I like to see that change, because I never thought that when I was in high school that I would be this person that would be doing so many things. I was so shy and so scared to try new things, but at Cheyney, it allowed me to open up myself to new ideas and wonderful experiences.”
It is fascinating to see Paul Robeson High School’s efforts to shape the character of today’s youth. There are things that many of these first-generation students are experiencing that some of their peers may be missing, such as mentorship, the encouragement to excel in school, and an ambition to attend college.
At Cheyney, students can fulfill their college dreams, and the university gets to develop and educate our future leaders in the city of Philadelphia and potentially across the country.
Cheyney can be a good fit for many of the students who come from the Philadelphia public school system.
There are currently about 25-30 students from Paul Robeson High School attending Cheyney University, with more students being accepted for 2026. The investment we make in our young people in high school allows us to see them become part of the future our city can be proud of.
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