Damiuna Dawson graduated in the Top 10% at Carver High School, where she also served as president of her senior class and president of the National Honor Society. Soon, she will become the first in her family to graduate from a four-year university.
Just as exciting, she will graduate from the University of Alabama at Birmingham entirely debt-free, thanks to help from the Birmingham Promise.
Damiuna grew up the youngest of five children in a single-parent home where finding resources even for high school was sometimes a stretch.
With her natural abilities as an athlete, scholar and leader, she made the most of her time in high school, among other things serving as the secretary of the Birmingham Superintendent’s Advisory Council, as a City of Birmingham Bicentennial Ambassador, and as an intern in the city school system, where she was instrumental in changes to the school dress code.
So many people, Damiuna said, saw her potential and provided her opportunities, even her classmates who elected her to leadership roles. “If this were a name-calling rally, I would have an endless list of community leaders, teachers, coaches, and my church who’ve all poured into me because of my potential and ability to lead,” Damiuna said. “Even my peers saw my potential and knew that I would do great things.”
While she wanted to be the first in her family to attend a four-year university, Damiuna didn’t know how she’d pay for it without taking on loads of debt. Fortunately, by the time of her graduation from Carver, the City of Birmingham had launched Birmingham Promise. The Class of 2020 was the first to benefit from the program, which ensures that all graduates of Birmingham City Schools can go to college tuition-free.
While Damiuna knew she would go to college, Birmingham Promise meant that she could get her degree in social work without taking out any student loans. “Graduating college debt-free is something I brag about,” she said.
Damiuna maximized the benefits of Birmingham Promise by attending UAB, which provides additional assistance and support for students in the program. UAB covered her housing expenses the first year, and by serving as a resident advisor, she had dorm expenses covered in later years, allowing her to stay on campus and contributing to her academic success.
“UAB has been the best decision of my life,” she said. “I have had so many opportunities coming to this school. They have really been a blessing.”
It hasn’t always been easy. But Damiuna persisted and took necessary steps to finish her degree in social work in four years. Now, she is set to move on to the next chapter, including her hopes of pursuing a master’s degree and ultimately doing the work she believes God called her to do.
In becoming a social worker, Damiuna wants to help children and families connect with resources that will help them with their life challenges – some of the same ones she faced and overcame in her childhood and adolescence.
“Even at a young age, I would ask myself how I could help,” she said.
One way Damiuna already tries to help her successors at Birmingham City School is to encourage them to make the most of what Birmingham Promise offers, including scholarships, internships, and training and coaching opportunities.
“I would tell students to take full advantage of this opportunity to have the future set up for them,” she said. “I’m truly a village child, and it took the entire village. When I look back and see Birmingham, all I see is all that they’ve done for me.”
