As one Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) scholar attending Leadership Institute put it, growing up in Flint, Michigan meant that bottled water was often stacked higher than opportunity.
Brandon J. Poplar, a senior law studies major at Delaware State University, was born in Pontiac, Michigan and raised in Flint during the water crisis.
“It shaped me early to understand resilience, but it also made me determined to carry my community’s story forward and to advance the legacy of my family,” Poplar said.
Poplar said he graduated from high school with a 2.5 GPA and wasn’t sure he belonged in higher education. During his sophomore year, his grandmother, the woman who raised him, was diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer’s. His family was also dealing with siblings who were without housing.
“The emotional and financial toll nearly sent me home,” Poplar said. “That is when the Thurgood Marshall College Fund stepped in.”
Poplar said TMCF paid his balance and later awarded him with a renewable scholarship.
“Those moments did more than provide financial relief,” he said. “They gave me the belief that I wasn’t alone, that someone was invested in my success.”
The financial relief gave Poplar the opportunity to lean into his education.
“I became Delaware State University’s first-ever chief justice of the Student Government Association,” he said. “I earned my first all-As semester.”
He also competed in national pitch competitions like the Chevron Energy Innovation Summit and Moguls in the Making, researched economic issues as a fellow with EVHybrid Noire, studied abroad in Yangzhou, China, and took on roles as a Braven Hornet Ambassador and SIEML fellow.
“But the turning point for my career came through TMCF’s Leadership Institute,” Poplar said. “It was there that I met Vanguard, which led directly to my internship this past summer.”
The opportunity gave him the chance to work at a leading financial services firm and confirmed his passion for standing at the intersection of finance, strategy and public service.
“Leadership Institute is not just another conference. It is a pipeline,” Poplar said. “It develops us as leaders, prepares us for the workforce and places us in direct connection with employers who are ready to hire. I am living proof of that.”
After graduation, he said he plans to pursue a career in corporate banking and financial services before earning a Ph.D. in economics.
His long-term goal is to influence higher education and economic policy, specifically to improve financial literacy, youth development and the economic mobility of cities like Wilmington, Delaware and Flint.
He’s also eyeing a career in higher education administration.
“Deeply inspired by my university’s president, Dr. Tony Allen, my ultimate ambition is to become an HBCU president and build pathways for the next generation, especially young Black men, to succeed in college and beyond,” Poplar said.
He credits TMCF as being a launching pad to these dreams.
“TMCF did not just help me stay in school,” Poplar said. “They gave me opportunity, confidence and the belief that my story matters. And now, every time I walk into a room, whether it is a boardroom, a classroom, or a conference like Leadership Institute, I know that I belong.”
