Sora Edwards-Thro

Stamps 1693 Scholar

Hometown

Yorktown, VA (York High School)

Why William & Mary

I turned my college search into quite the search, applying to 15 schools all around the country. William & Mary was on the list, but I was more enchanted by places farther from home, preferably tiny and in the middle of nowhere. Then when I received scholarship offers from those places and actually visited them, I realized I preferred "the college next door."

I discovered that William & Mary is the perfect size - large enough to be interesting, small enough to be intimate. I also came to appreciate the students themselves. When people asked me why I was going to college, I always replied "to meet smart people" but "smart" can mean a lot of different things. William & Mary students are smart but not smug, and every one I meet seems to have their own passion driving them. I realized that the chance to be surrounded by people like that, in a setting that focuses on undergraduates and research, is an extremely rare thing, and I knew once the interview weekend for scholars was over that if William & Mary said yes, I'd be content telling all the other schools that gave me similar offers "no."

Major

Linguistics major with minor in Education Studies

Research and W&M Activities

Summer 2017: Honors Thesis research on Haitian Afro-futurist fiction
Winter 2015-Summer 2016: Study on the impact of technology on Haitian Creole literacy (partially funded by 1693 grant)
Kids Write Founder
- started technology / literacy programs at 6 schools in Haiti
Sharpe Scholar
WMSURE
Writing Resources Center consultant
Black Lives Matter organizer

Internships

Summer 2016: FHI 360, Literacy Intern
Summer 2015: Worldreader, Research Intern

High School Activities

Board of Directors for Unleash Kids, an educational technology group working in Haiti
Project Rive Coordinator, a computer center for a Haitian village
National Novel Writing winner for 5 years
Co-Captain of Cross Country
Track and Field

Awards/Distinctions

2nd of 201 teams in Big Ideas @ Berkeley social innovation competition
Finalist in USAID All Children Reading - Enabling Writers prize competition
First Place - Group of Poems, William & Mary 2017 Student Literary Awards
Raised over $56,000 for Kids Write through prize competitions and grants
Author of two plays, three zines, and many blog posts
Proficient in Haitian Creole
First and second place awards in state science fairs