Joal Reeves
College of Saint Benedict
Cargill Diversity Scholarship
Joal Reeves can remember being in elementary school when she first visited one of Minnesota’s private colleges. "I was 10 or 11, and the kids in the neighborhood were invited to go trick or treating in Macalester College's dormitories. I can still remember how impressed I was by everything on that campus. I knew then, I wanted to be like those students and go on to college," she says.
Joal grew up in Minneapolis and graduated from Roosevelt High School. Her path to college was filled with a lot of hard work and guidance. "I think the most important people in my life that made me think I could go to college were my social studies teacher, Jehanne Beaton, at Roosevelt High School, and my Admission Possible coach Amanda Ziebell-Finley," she says. Admission Possible is a pre-college preparatory program that helps make college admission possible for talented, motivated and economically disadvantaged students in Minnesota by providing ACT test preparation services and admissions and financial aid consulting.
When it came time to choose a college, Joal was recruited hard by the College of Saint Benedict for its new I-Lead Fellowship Program, a program that helps students from different backgrounds and cultures make an impact on their communities by giving them leadership opportunities and financial resources. Seth Snyder, assistant director of admission and diversity coordinator at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, has seen Joal grow a tremendous amount in her short time at the College of Saint Benedict. "Joal has quickly become one of the core leaders of the I-LEAD Fellowship. She’s supportive of her classmates, encouraging to younger students, and an inspiration for high school students hoping to be the first in their families to graduate from college," says Snyder.
"I think the benefits of attending a smaller liberal arts college are that I have more opportunities to become involved on campus and take up leadership positions," Joal says. "I plan to be a social justice activist and become involved in such things as community planning and working with different local and community-based crime prevention teams."
Joal is majoring in Peace Studies, with a double minor in Writing and Communication. Her hometown is Minneapolis.