AT&T recently announced the 25 HBCU students selected for its 2022 Class of Rising Future Makers. In addition to receiving $5,000 presented by AT&T 5G and a 5G-enabled mobile phone with one year of AT&T service, the students will participate in professional workshops and mentoring sessions with AT&T executives, and receive other gifts.

We are so proud of the amazing achievements of all of these young people making a difference on their HBCU campuses and within their community at large. We are especially proud of freshman Cyrai Young and senior Kalaya Sibley, who are from Frisco, TX and Dallas, TX respectively.

Prairie View A&M University freshman, Cyrai Young, says she is ecstatic about being selected and that it affirms that what she has been doing and pursuing over the last few years is paying off and making a difference. She is especially looking forward to the mentorship opportunity with AT&T executives and getting their advice on pursuing her career in forensic pathology. She plans to use her future role as a forensic pathologist to help her community by being able to lift the burden off of families who have lost a loved one. In addition to wanting to help her community, she also wants to be a part of changing the representation of Black people in the field (currently less than 10%). 

Young also plans to use the $5,000 to help pay for summer classes over the next two years, lifting the burden of having to pay off summer classes and giving her an opportunity to build her platform. During the pandemic, she launched her @idontknowhowifeelabouttthis_ page on Instagram to get her voice out there and spread awareness about different issues and events within the Black community, noting many of her generation and younger generations use social media to get information. She was also drawn to creating the platform by the death of George Floyd, who she found out was a distant cousin. Her love for activism and art also led to her creating an Instagram page dedicated to her art, @creativity_squared. She says she realized she could use it “to get her voice heard to bring multiple awareness about mental issues, racism, discrimination, [and] different issues that are happening in the world around us right now.” 

In addition to being selected as an AT&T Dream in Black Rising Future Maker, in 2022 Young also celebrated graduating cum laude from high school, joining an honors program at Prairie View A&M University, as well as being one of only seven freshmen accepted into their Jasper College (an undergraduate medical academy for all four classes that includes MCAT prep, medical school visits, and other opportunities to prepare selected undergrads for medical school). In the upcoming years she most looks forward to graduating from college and continuing to medical school on her journey towards reaching her career goals. 

A senior at Dillard University, Sibley, says being selected as a AT&T Dream in Black Rising Future Maker is “affirming and exciting to know that I get to join in the movement with other HBCU students who are making change within their communities and their HBCU campuses. It lets me know that I am not alone in the work and the change that I aspire to make within my community.” She most looks forward to gaining insight on entrepreneurship and her legal career path through the professional development and mentorship opportunities, as well as being able to meet, network with, and collaborate with the other honorees. 

2022 was an exciting year for Sibley. In addition to being a AT&T Dream in Black Rising Future Maker, she was also selected to be a 2022 White House HBCU Scholar, was recognized by Savage X Fenty for her reproductive justice work within her community and on her campus, and was posted on the front cover of the Washington Post. 

Sibley plans to obtain her master’s and a juris doctorate to open a crisis communication firm, utilizing her communications and public relations experience and knowledge with her legal education to support politicians, thought leaders, organizations and nonprofits. In the coming years, in addition to going to law school and starting her own crisis communication firm, Sibley is looking to expand her network, grow as a young woman into a professional, figure out ways to reach back as she climbs the ladder, and expand her knowledge of life in general. 

Some tips and words of wisdom Sibley shared for others looking to be rising future makers in their own right include: apply whether you qualify or not, take advantage of opportunities, do what works for you not what others expect you to do, use platforms like LinkedIn to brand yourself and showcase your big and small accomplishments, network because sometimes it’s about who you know and who knows you, and don’t forget who helped you along the way and bring them with you.

As they were chosen for this honor in part for the work they are doing on their HBCU campuses, it is important to also recognize, acknowledge, celebrate, and share why these amazing young women chose to have an HBCU undergraduate experience. They shared several reasons, including a feeling of belonging amongst others that look like them, the ability to both be in a safe space and to take up space, continuing a longstanding family legacy of HBCU graduates extending back generations, and the overall legacy of Black excellence and pride. 

We look forward to witnessing the future works and contributions of these remarkable young women!