When Alexandria Curry left Champaign, Illinois, for Florida A&M University, she was ready for change. “All I could think about was leaving Illinois,” she said with a laugh. “I needed something new — a place where my Blackness wouldn’t be questioned or minimized but celebrated every day.”
Now a junior studying Environmental Sciences, Alexandria has found not just her calling in STEM, but her confidence as a young Black woman in a field that too often overlooks voices like hers.
Alexandria was born and raised in Champaign, a mid-sized college town two hours south of Chicago. Though her city was diverse, she often felt caught between identities. “I was the first in my family not raised in Chicago, so that already made my experience different,” she said…