Jayleen Seeburg, who graduated from Mount Vernon's Denzel Washington School of the Arts in 2022, has received the Chadwick Boseman Memorial Scholarship, which will cover her four years of schooling at Howard University in Washington, DC, according to the high school.
The $5.4 million endowed scholarship was created in Oct. 2021 by the university with the help of a donation from Netflix and is meant to honor Boseman, an alumnus of Howard University who died in 2020.
Seeburg was a technical theatre major at the high school, where she served as stage manager for Principal Evelyn Collins’ theater productions, and also acted in productions including “Seussical,” “The Lion King, Jr.,” and “The Wiz," according to the high school.
Right now, Seeburg is studying technical theatre in her first year at the university, school officials said.
"I’m quite proud of Jayleen and the legacy she left for aspiring technical theatre majors at Denzel Washington School of the Arts," said Collins, who said she assisted Seeburg with her application because "she is that good."
The scholarship is awarded to one incoming freshman each year who shows "exceptional skills in the arts, reminiscent of Boseman, and who demonstrate financial need," according to the university.
"Many exemplary artists are not afforded the opportunity to pursue higher learning. We hope to support as many students as possible by removing the financial barrier to education. This endowment represents Chad’s devotion to the craft, his compassion for others and his desire to support future storytellers," Boseman's wife, Simone Ledward-Boseman, said of the scholarship.
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