The Next Chapter

The baby photo on the wall in the hallway tells just a small part of her story. Atlanta-native Alana Gulley, 18,  is still working on the rest. Hundreds of miles away from home and everything she knows will be the next chapter. The latest adventure. Something new and exciting.

Gulley received the Distinguished HBCU Scholar Award from the Norfolk Southern’s (NS) Thoroughbred Scholars program. More than 100 children of Norfolk Southern Corporation employees receive college scholarships through the scholars program, which launched in July 2022. Each year, the program provides up to $10,000 over a four-year period, along with three additional scholarships for distinguished students who will receive rewards of up to $40,000 over four years. 

Gulley’s stepfather, Edward (Ed) Lee, works in Norfolk Southern’s Sourcing Department as Supervisor Purchasing out of the company headquarters in Atlanta.  

The Atlanta Voice spoke with Gulley and her parents the day she left for school to embark on her new chapter as an HBCU student.  

Embarking On a New Journey 

Gulley chose to attend Howard University in Washington, D.C., where she will study psychology as a Howard University Achievers Scholar and hopes to pursue a career in forensic psychology. 

She graduated from Westlake High School, where she served as president of Science National Honor Society, and made principal honor roll all four years.Gulley has also been named a recipient of numerous awards including Freemont Scholar, Delta Sigma Theta Presidential Scholar, National Honors Society Scholar, and P.Phashions Scholar. 

Gulley said she chose Howard University because originally she wanted to study law, but after conducting more research, she discovered forensic psychology interested her more.  

“Even though I went looking for another field, after doing research, Howard still fit with the curriculum of forensic psychology and they have a really good psychology program, so it was perfect,” she said.  

Additionally, Gulley said although she knows she wants to study forensic psychology, she hasn’t narrowed down whether to go into the field of investigation or more towards clinical.  

Gulley said wanted to attend Howard University since she was in 7th grade, inspired by her math teacher, a Howard University graduate. 

Also, she said she was “pretty excited” to go through the entire process of moving into a new room and getting to know the campus. When it came to leaving home though, she said she would more than likely have a “delayed reaction”.  

“I haven’t really thought about what it means to live in another state for months on end, but I feel like once I get on campus, it’s going to hit and it’ll be kind of a delayed reaction,” she said.  

She also said the experience with finding scholarships were a little difficult at first, but once she started applying, it was well worth the time and effort.  

“Once you do find, apply, and receive scholarships, it’s worth all the time you spent searching for them,” she said. “I also feel like attending an HBCU is really important for people of color specifically because you’re able to learn more about your history that you’re not taught in public schools or schools that aren’t meant for us when it comes to the curriculum.” 

Gulley, according to her mom Ehize Lee, was accepted to 40+ colleges and universities receiving total merit scholarship offers of approximately $1.32 million which included Presidential scholarship offers from University of Southern California (USC), GA Tech, LSU, and acceptances from top HBCUs such as Spelman, Xavier University of Louisiana, North Carolina A&T, etc.  

“Since we knew Alana’s goal was to attend Howard University and knowing she may not obtain all the funds needed AND we did not want her to begin school worried about financial obligations we set out a plan of how to work to close the financial gap thorough external scholarships,” Ehize said. 

“We told her if this is what she wanted to do, not only is it going to be expensive but we need you to put the work in addition to school, and try to get the private scholarships,” Ed said. “She has pretty much gotten enough private scholarships with addition to her merit scholarships to cover all four years, so we’re talking about $55,000 a year. She put the work in and she showed us she wanted to do this.” 

To clarify, Gulley did not receive a full ride to Howard, however, she is fully covered through executing the plan of writing a ton of essays, interviews, videos, obtaining academic and service letters, etc.  

Howard University cost $56,000 per year (four years), according to Ehize.  

“We made Sundays 2-4 p.m. as our external scholarship planning days. Together we would review the list of scholarships that were going to be tackled for the month and set target completion dates and get updates on progress,” Ehize said. “Gratefully, when Alana was accepted to HU she received a merit scholarship of $19,000 per year which meant $37,000 per year to close up. Happy to say Alana’s hard work has earned her external funding of $101,000 (inclusive of Norfolk Southern was $40k, sorority scholarships from Delta Sigma Theta, Alpha Kappa Alpha, and Zeta Phi Beta, and several local organizations) . She auditioned for Howard’s Showtime Marching Band and received a band scholarship that will be awarded of between $10k-$14k per year (pending exact amount).”  

Ehize also said she wants to share this information to other families to help as they embark on this journey. 

“It is possible for students to attend the schools that they envision through diligent work and an executable plan without incurring student debt,” she said. 

Alana, Family, and More  

When it comes to extracurricular activities at Howard, Gulley said she’s apart of the marching band, has heard a lot about the Georgia Club, and was recommended to join the debate team.  

”I’ve heard a lot about the Georgia Club, so I’d definitely join that and it was recommended to me to join the debate club not specifically for law but to find that particular community. I’m also in the marching band at Howard so that gives me a second family away from home,” she said.  

Gulley said she is excited about discovering more about herself as a person away from home and family. She also said she wants to discover different aspects of HBCU culture that’s not talked about. 

In her free time, Gulley said she enjoys different artistic activities such as crocheting, puzzles, listening to podcasts, or sometimes watching a show or movie. Her favorite show at the moment, she said, is South Park.  

Additionally, Gulley is the oldest of three siblings and wanted to pass along advice to them. 

“I would tell them if there’s something that you want to achieve, its important to work towards it, don’t let anyone deter you from that path,” she said. “You have to get out there and discover what you want to do, you can’t just sit at home all day and watch tv. You have to educate yourself and have that drive in you to be something important and to drive change.” 

For advice to people who may not feel they can afford to attend an HBCU or don’t know if it’s worth it, Gulley said HBCUs comes with good and bad, but the positives outweigh the negatives.  

”You have a community where you aren’t the odd one out. You have people backing you and the education where as if you’re going to a PWI, you may not have as much support,” she said. 

Ehize said she feels “very excited” for her daughter. 

“A lot of friends would ask me, ‘are you crying’, and that part hasn’t hit me yet and I’m sure it will because we’re really connected and I’m just so excited. I’m going to live vicariously through her experience because I wanted to attend an HBCU and wasn’t able to, so I’m just really excited for her,” she said.  

Ed also said he feels proud of his stepdaughter because “she did a lot of this on her own and put in the work”.  

“We set the parameters on ‘hey this is what you want to do’, ‘this is what you need to do’. She was very independent and carving out her own path, and I am so happy that she was able to achieve where she wanted to go,” Edward said. “We didn’t put a lot of pressure on her, we just said, ‘hey, do the best you can do, and if you can do the best you can do, be proud’ and she exceeded my expectations.” 

Both Gulley’s parents didn’t attend an HBCU, but discussed why going to an HBCU for their daughter is important.  

“We both didn’t go and we had aspirations to, but for whatever reason, we didn’t. However, we both think the HBCU experience is very valuable especially for our community on the historical values and what HBCUs bring,” Edward said. “A lot of our elite African American leaders have come from an HBCU. A lot of times, there’s a safe space for us at HBCUs that you wouldn’t get at a PWI, I know from being at one, so to have that place to be nurtured and encouraged to do well is one of the reasons why we pushed for her to go to an HBCU. The culture , the history, the legacy, and the success rate are reasons why, to us, going to an HBCU is important.” 

Additionally, Ed and Ehize told The Atlanta Voice advice they wanted to give to Alana.  

“I would just tell her to be intentional and be present for her experiences because four years seems long in the beginning but that time flies by so fast. The relationships that you can develop over that time whether it’s friendships or even mentors, they’re so precious and invaluable. There’s no money that can buy that again,” Ehize said. 

“The one thing I want to tell Alana is to enjoy the experience. Don’t limit yourself, sometimes you will want to say you don’t want to do certain things because there’s an expectation of what I’m supposed to do,” Edward said. “This is the time to explore who you want to be, get to know who you want to be. You may have one major now, but you may change. For example, I was a math major, I ended up being a business major so don’t make any definite decisions.’

Edwards continued, “Enjoy it, find your place, and continue to grow. Don’t be in a rush because once you leave, you’re in the real world.”