Aniyah was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, and attended KIPP Atlanta Collegiate High School, a school with a predominantly Black student population. She grew up in a very tight-knit, community-focused environment that focused on collective flourishing. “There were a lot of events going on and just a lot of culture,” she remembers.
Going to college was considered the norm in Aniyah’s community, as many families' focus was on making sure that their children had a better life than those who preceded them. However, as Aniyah shared, “I am from a marginalized community…so coming with that was its challenges with resources, funding and just getting attention from college [admission officers].” Her priorities were getting to college and exploring the US and the world — goals that stemmed from this core philosophy — “Do whatever you want to do, but make sure it’s something you’re passionate about and that it’s financially stable.”
Despite these ambitions, Aniyah hasn’t always been certain that college was the right path for her. “I didn’t know if I wanted to go to a trade school,” she recollects. “I didn’t know if I just wanted to join the workforce. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do.” However, her college counselor was able to share many different opportunities with her, including QuestBridge. Her school’s college counselor played an integral part in developing Aniyah’s understanding of the college process, and participating in QuestBridge helped her learn how to showcase her unique lived experience and skills in a college application.
One challenge that Aniyah faced during the QuestBridge application process was completing the supplemental essays for the 10 schools that she had ranked in addition to the schoolwork that was already on her plate. Eventually, she condensed her list to 8, which helped with her workload. She also found herself confronting imposter syndrome: “I was like, why am I even doing this? I might not even get it.” However, she didn’t let worry hold her back and shared, “I just pushed through and told my story.”
Based on her experience, Aniyah wants to encourage other QuestBridge applicants to share their story in a way that’s true to themselves. She recognizes that “it’s sometimes daunting, creating different supplemental essays for colleges, but as long as you come from a place of passion and true honesty…everything will fall into place.”
It’s sometimes daunting, creating different supplemental essays for colleges, but as long as you come from a place of passion and true honesty…everything will fall into place.
Aniyah was first introduced to Rice in middle school. As someone who once played volleyball through Playworks, she originally thought she might want to play volleyball in college and so she began researching Rice’s volleyball programs. Aniyah eventually stopped playing volleyball in high school, but when she began exploring QuestBridge partner schools, Rice struck a familiar note. She looked into other opportunities at Rice and was excited by what she saw, particularly by the breadth of study abroad programs and intramural sports that were offered.
Aniyah received her match notification email at the beginning of her college success course, but her counselor asked her to wait until after class to open the email so that she would have more privacy. For support, several of her friends stayed with her after class. Finding out if she had matched was a nerve-racking experience: “We all had hope, but we didn’t know.”
However, once Aniyah opened the link and saw confetti, the celebration began. “It was like a weight lifted off my shoulders,” she says. “I literally cried.” She ran outside to tell her mom, who was waiting to pick Aniyah up from school. When she found out that Aniyah had matched, her mom started “honking her [car] horn, and it was just so celebratory… one of the greatest feelings ever…”
Now a sophomore at Rice, Aniyah is studying Social Policy Analysis, a field that she describes as “a mixture between political science, sociology and psychology.” Outside of the classroom, she recently completed the Leadership Rice Mentorship Experience (LRME) and worked with the Acres Homes Community Advocacy Group. This organization provides community education, organization and advocacy for health and housing policy changes to help address the needs of the Acres Homes community in Northern Houston.
Aniyah was also selected as a Community Bridges fellow at Rice’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research, which seeks to address the issues of inequality and poverty in urban communities through field work and research. Through the Community Bridges program, Aniyah works with the Social Justice Learning Institute, an organization that focuses on the educational promotion, community development and wellbeing of youth and communities of color.
Beyond her social policy work, Aniyah is an active leader on campus. As a Doerr Student Ambassador, she helps to connect Rice students with the leadership development programs available at the Doerr Institute for New Leaders. She also serves as a Peer Academic Advisor with the Office of Academic Advising, and as a Peer Educator with the Office of Academic Support for Undergraduates (OASUS). These roles allow her to assist students as they find their academic path, as does her work tutoring students taking Quantitative Analysis in the Social Sciences (SOC 302).
Additionally, Aniyah supports first year students as the Director of New Students in the Rice Student’s Association (SA). She manages the New Student Representatives (NSR) Program to help new students become familiar with Rice student government and is the liaison between the SA and first year students. She also works with Owl Arrive, Rice’s pre-orientation program for First Generation and limited income students, as a Peer Leader.
In addition to these campus organizations, the residential college system has heavily impacted Aniyah’s Rice experience. When she first arrived at Sid Richardson College for O-Week, she was “swarmed” by people, but “in a comforting way.” She appreciates the extent to which people go out of their way to help one another, and she has made an effort to help her peers along the way in return.
The QuestBridge community at Rice has provided an additional layer of support for Aniyah and is an opportunity to connect with peers who share similar experiences. Aniyah encourages incoming QuestBridge students to take a moment to “take it all in” when they first arrive on campus. She advises, “There are a lot of things at Rice that can hit you all at once, and you’ll probably feel obligated to do a lot at once, but just take it all in and relax…because it can be overwhelming.”
While her post-graduation plans aren’t solidified quite yet, Aniyah is considering going to law school to pursue a career in either the non-profit field or as a judicial assistant. She is interested in the legal system and feels that a legal education would allow her to learn more while preparing for a legal career. Rice has given Aniyah the opportunity to connect with people from a variety of backgrounds and develop her leadership abilities. Looking forward, she’s excited to carry the skills that she’s polished here at Rice into the future.