Trinity @ Dunbar HS Celebration Honoring Cong. Norton
Trinity Washington University is honored to participate in a festive kick-off event at Dunbar High School on Friday, September 13, to honor D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, leading to her 65th Graduation Anniversary celebration from Dunbar in spring 2020. Trinity, which educates more D.C. residents than any other private university in the city and in the nation, was invited to participate in a special college fair at Dunbar, after Congresswoman Norton is welcomed by Principal Smith Vice Principal English, and gives remarks to the students. Assistant Director of Trinity Admissions, Jessica Stamp, who earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Trinity, will greet students at the college fair.
Trinity presented Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton with an honorary degree in May 1995, recognizing her as a “devout champion of Home Rule and D.C. Statehood,” and a civic leader who “combines a keen intellect with grace and humanity towards the people who make this city her home.” She has brought many important conversations to Trinity’s campus over the years, eager to engage students in discussions around women’s legal rights, pay equity, access to higher education and economic justice. Many students have interned in her office, including D.C. native Airen Washington. Congresswoman Norton celebrated the groundbreaking for the Trinity Center for Women and Girls in Sports and returned to cut the ribbon when it opened.
Congresswoman Norton’s lasting legacy is the creation of the D.C. Tuition Assistant Grant (DC-TAG), which provides generous financial grants to students and has made the dream of college a reality for D.C. residents – and thousands of Trinity students and graduates.
Trinity is committed to making higher education accessible and affordable. Trinity offers a $15,000 Leadership Scholarship, guaranteed, to every student who applies by January 1, 2020, and is accepted into Trinity’s College of Arts and Sciences – the undergraduate college for women. Trinity has the lowest tuition of any private university in the region. With the $15,000 Trinity Scholarship, Trinity’s low tuition, DC-TAG and Pell grants, and other scholarship programs, many D.C. students in Trinity’s College of Arts and Sciences pay zero out-of-pocket for tuition.
At the Dunbar celebration, Congresswoman Norton will introduce the Paul Laurence Dunbar Commemorative Coin Act, which directs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in recognition of Paul Laurence Dunbar, one of the most influential African-American poets in American literature. The coin sales would benefit scholarships and similar activities of the Dunbar Alumni Federation, the alumni association for the historic Paul Laurence Dunbar Senior High School, the first public high school for African Americans in the United States. In addition to Congresswoman Norton, many well-known and accomplished African Americans graduated from Dunbar, including Edward Brooke, the first popularly elected African American to the U.S. Senate; Wesley A. Brown, the first African American to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy; and Robert C. Weaver, the first-ever Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
