One student attending the upcoming Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) 2025 Leadership Institute first learned about the organization on social media. Her commitment to pursue opportunities through TMCF led to financial relief and career prospects.
Grace Ogunmodede, a senior majoring in information science and systems at Morgan State University, first learned about TMCF during her freshman year.
“Scrolling through social media, I kept seeing posts about TMCF,” Ogunmodede said. “And honestly? A part of me wasn’t even sure if it was attainable for someone like me. But something told me to try.”
Her intuition would go on to change her higher education journey.
“My sophomore year, I committed to pursuing TMCF, and everything changed,” she said.
She received the Adobe HBCU Ignite Scholarship and a renewable Medtronic Foundation scholarship.
“It covered my whole bill – the largest of my college career,” Ogunmodede said.
The following year, the opportunities kept coming.
“I attended an honors college meeting where I would be officially introduced to Medtronic – the largest medical device company in the world,” she said. “That introduction led to my first internship as an information technology intern, which was monumental and transformational for me.”
The next summer, she landed an internship at Wells Fargo in global operations.
While her path now looks steady and sure, it wasn’t always so.
“I actually came to Morgan State University with no financial aid, basically on faith, my two feet, and a positive outlook on life,” Ogunmodede said. “But God ordered my steps. I felt extremely out of place and didn’t know whether I would thrive here.”
She also carried the weight of being a first-generation college student.
“As the first daughter of a Nigerian American household and the oldest of four from Baltimore, I carried not just my dreams, but the hopes of my entire family,” she said. “The weight of being the first to attend college felt both like an honor and an enormous burden.”
Ogunmodede carried the weight with determination and found herself along the way.
“I developed my mindset and found my voice,” she said. “Now, I have no question or doubt in my mind that I can achieve whatever I set my mind to.”
She also achieved a major financial accomplishment.
“I’ll be graduating debt-free, with experience worth more than gold to help me succeed after college,” she said.
After discovering TMCF on social media, Ogunmodede has been active in the organization.
“I’ve attended DevCon, Leadership Institute (where I received multiple coaching session offers), helped host TMCF events at Morgan State, and I always encourage other students to “just make the videos!” and apply for the open scholarships and leadership programs,” she said. “The network I’ve created across HBCUs, companies and professionals will transcend for a lifetime.”
After graduation, she aspires to become a CIO, tech enthusiast, philanthropist, storyteller, speaker and business owner, using her education to inspire others to take charge of their own lives and tell their story.
“TMCF changed my life and made possibilities known to me that have completely broadened and expanded my horizons,” she said. “Words can’t express how TMCF has positively impacted my story and I want to tell the whole world about it.”
