ROCHESTER — Saturday was a crowning moment for Mathani Mohamed. She had cheered on three years of Miss Juneteenth winners at the annual celebration, and this year she walked on stage with a grateful laugh. The moment was an inspiration to look forward to through her years at Century High School and she thanked her family, friends and mentors for their support.
The Mr. and Miss Juneteenth scholarship focuses on increasing high school graduation rates for students of color at Rochester Public Schools. Matthew Omoijuanfo was crowned Mr.
Juneteenth 2024. “Juneteenth is about commemorating the progress that we’ve made, it’s about embracing our pride and standing together. It teaches us resilience as a community and gives us hope for the legacy that we will continue to carry on,” Mohamed shared with the crowd at Rochester’s Rev.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park on Saturday, June 15.
Mohamed will finish a liberal arts degree at Rochester Community and Technical College in the fall and transition to the nursing program next spring. As a Muslim Sudanese-American woman, she said “education is my tool for change” and the career path of medicine allows her to represent Black people. Omoijuanfo hopes “to contribute to improve the Black community” through educational advocacy, mentoring students and working on scholarships.
He will attend the University of Massachusetts-Boston studying computer science in the pre-med track. ADVERTISEMENT “What Juneteenth means to me, i.
