Opportunity Scholarship student graduates as valedictorian of Archbishop Carroll

By Laura Jamison
Catholic Standard

When Tiffany Dunston, the valedictorian of Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington, delivers the commencement address at her high school graduation, she will have one person in mind – her cousin who was shot and killed at 17 before he could go to college.

Throughout her entire high school career, he has been her motivation.

“I am always thinking what he could have done. I’m a representation of what he could have done for my family,” she said.
Dunston said she grew up in a District neighborhood where some residents endured poverty and crime. “It was really difficult for me,” she said. Since then, Dunston’s family has moved to a safer part of the city, she said.

As Dunston prepared for high school, she dreamed of going to school at Arch-bishop Carroll High School, but this was only possible if she received a D.C. Opportunity Scholarship, she said.

“On the news they portrayed the other neighborhood schools negatively, and I always had dreams of coming to this school,” she said.
Nervous, she opened a letter she received in the mail. It stated she had received the scholarship.

“I have been an Opportunity Scholarship student in the Washington school program since I was a freshman. It is a wonderful program, because I was able to choose a great school,” she said.
Dunston said she was sad to hear the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program could expire after the 2008-09 school year unless it is reauthorized by Congress.

Trying to attend Archbishop Carroll without the scholarship would have been “financially hard,” she said.

During a White House Summit on Inner-City Children and Faith-Based Schools on April 24, Dunston was invited by her principal, David Stofa, to meet President Bush, and tell him about her success.

“I had pictures and I told him about myself...it was a good experience to meet him, the president of the United States,” she said.

Dunston has a 4.1 GPA, and next year she will attend Syracuse University in New York, where she will major in bio-chemistry and minor in French. Dunston, a Christian, also played for her high school’s basketball team, and has cultivated good relationships with her teachers.

“I love this school. It’s faith-based, and it gives me the opportunity to strengthen my relationship with God. As you walk through the doors of Carroll High School there is a sense of unity and love...The environment is nurturing, you can have a one-on-one relationship with your teachers,” she said.

While she played on the basketball team, several of her classmates would ask her how she balanced school and extra-curricular activities. Dunston said, although it was difficult, she thought earning good grades “was required,” at Archbishop Carroll.

“It is also a part of my character. Since I was in elementary school I’ve been the type of person to stay focused, to go to college,” she said. “I believe a mind with a lack of education is an absent mind. You can’t have success, and you can’t have a good job. There would be absolutely nothing.”

Dunston said she doesn’t know if she will move back to Washington after college, but she hopes to one day give back to her community.

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Tiffany testified before the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs on May 13, 2009.