2024 Great Grads: Cierra Carter

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As a junior in high school, Cierra Carter traveled from Saint Paul, Minn., to tour Johnson C. Smith University’s campus. She fell in love immediately but ultimately was influenced to start her collegiate journey at Tennessee State University.

By the summer of 2022, she took “a leap of faith” and transferred to JCSU.

“I believed that God knew my situation, and He ordered my steps, which brought me back to JCSU,” she said. “Since I’ve transferred to Johnson C. Smith University, my education has brought many opportunities and opened up my world to endless possibilities.”

Carter, a first-generation college student and Social Work major, has accomplished great things in the short two years since she transferred to JCSU. She became a resident assistant in Greenfield Hall, a fellow in the Charlotte Racial Justice Consortium, the secretary and vice president of the UNCF Pre-Alumni Council, and a student ambassador for UNCF and the TRIO Student Support Service Program.

Academically, Carter has excelled and was named a Ronald E. McNair Scholar.
“All Johnson C. Smtih University first-generation college students should be proud of being the first,” she said. “Discover your voice and make use of all the resources available to you.”

Carter says she is grateful for God and to all in her support system, including her granny, her older sister Chelsea and her mother. She says she can’t forget to thank JoAnn Clark, who helped her attend her first and only HBCU tour, and Dorene Brookins, her high school mentor who fostered her growth before college.

“To my Golden Bull family, I would like to thank Mrs. LaTausha Perkins-Allen, Ms. Antia Dawkins, Ms. Wanda Foy-Burroughs, Ms. Arlene Hagans, the Department of Social Work, Dr. G. Eric Styles, Ms. Shanera Mackey, Dr. Angela White, Ms. Kenyatta Reed, Ms. Shirley Townsend, Mr. Jarius Page, Ms. Ashley Keys, and Dr. Amos Etukudoh,” she said.

Carter says she will continue her academic journey at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, where she has been accepted into the university’s Advanced Standing Master of Social Work program.