Memorial Scholarship

Born in Jasper, Florida in 1938 and affectionately nicknamed "My Little Teacher" as a child by a close friend of her grandmother, the legendary Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, Castell's destiny seemed written early. She would go on to honor that prophecy in every chapter of her extraordinary life.
 
Dr. Bryant's own educational journey was anything but easy. She paused her studies to raise her daughter, earned degrees while working full-time, and climbed from Clerk Typist to Special Assistant to a university president — all through perseverance, sacrifice, and an unshakeable belief in the power of learning. She ultimately earned a Doctorate from Nova Southeastern University and pursued post-doctoral studies at Harvard University.
 
Her career took her from Florida A&M University to Miami-Dade Community College, to the Florida Board of Governors, to the United States Department of Education — and on January 3, 2005, she made history as the first woman ever to serve as President of Florida A&M University in its then 139-year history.
 
But titles never defined her. Students did. Communities did. The young people she mentored, the doors she refused to let close, and the lives she quietly transformed — those defined her.
 
This scholarship honors her legacy by doing exactly what she did her entire life: investing in a student who has the drive to succeed and simply needs someone to believe in them.