West Virginia State University, Freshman, Charles A. Tindley Accelerated Academy Class of 2024
Elijah Brinkley, the 2024 Burke, Dabner, Rodman Family Scholarship Program recipient, is a freshman at West Virginia State University.
While attending Charles A. Tindley Accelerated Academy, Brinkley received the Principal’s Award, was a Dean’s List and Honor Roll student (3.89 GPA), is described as a critical thinker with intense intellectual curiosity, a leader, one who rises to the challenge and pushes those around him. He voluntarily joined groups with struggling students, in group activities and exam preparation to encourage and assist them. Brinkley’s extracurricular activities included First Robotics Indiana, the Kheprw Institute Food Project Team, and an Indiana Council on Educating Students of Color Inc. Teaching Assistant.
His early childhood exposure to farming developed his passion for food security which led Brinkley to a Senior Farm Hand position at the Lawrence Community Garden. While on the robotics team, Brinkley’s team went to the regional competition. This experience showed him how teams can work together and how the functions of a robot can be programmed on a computer and spurred Brinkley’s thoughts about the impacts of robotics in an agricultural setting.
Brinkley aspires to merge his passion for farming and agriculture to create food security with his curiosity for technology. He plans to attend West Virginia State University to obtain a degree in Agricultural Engineering.