MSW student Keyon Mitchell is one of four national winners of the inaugural Gold Standard Scholarship Program, sponsored by the National Basketball Association and Bacardi USA, Inc.

Mitchell, who initially won $10,000 for being selected as one of 24 finalists, received an additional $30,000 for being named a national winner, which involved both public voting and program committee input. The program honored students 21 and older who came from either the Hispanic or African-American communities and lived in one of the NBA’s top markets: Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Detroit, Boston or New Orleans. From each market, one male and one female candidate were selected by both the Hispanic Scholarship Fund and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, the latter of which Mitchell applied through.

“When they began to announce, ‘The national winner is pursuing a master’s in social work...,’ my mom, who was sitting right next to me at the time, squeezed my leg, and I remember putting my head down and thinking, ‘is this really happening?’” Mitchell said. “I felt like a huge weight was lifted off my family's shoulders. This scholarship is a reminder for me to continue to pursue my dreams of positively influencing this world.”

To earn a scholarship, Mitchell, a health concentration student, and the other recipients had to exhibit academic excellence, as well as a commitment to volunteerism and service. Mitchell, who plans to attend medical school after completing his MSW, performed his foundation-year internship at the Kedren Community Mental Health Center, where he worked with people diagnosed with mental disorders.

“Social work is allowing me to hone my ability to work with different cultures, personalities and age groups. Not only does it provide exposure to these populations, it gives me a plethora of interventions to help validate and support my clients,” he said. “I am so intrigued by the way people think, behave and interact with the world around them. I aim to use my knowledge of social work and medicine to embody empathy, compassion and hope through a bio-psycho-social perspective.”