Three N.C. A&T Students Named Apple HBCU Scholars

Greensboro, N.C. (March 15, 2017) – Three North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University students spent the week of Feb. 13, 2017, in Cupertino, California in a five-day immersive experience at Apple headquarters as part of the Apple HBCU Scholars program.

Juniors Christian Johnson, Brandon Long and Shanel Smith were among 35 students from 16 historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) chosen to participate. The initiative, now in its second year, is a partnership between Apple and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) that was created to provide opportunities in the tech industry for students and enhance engagement with faculty on HBCU campuses.

“It is truly an honor to be selected as one of just over 30 scholars from a pool of 14,000 applicants,” Long said. “This program is something that I have had my eye on since the summer of my freshman year when they first created it from the partnership between Apple and TMCF. I look forward to working among the top engineers in the world and learning all that I can as a software engineer intern.”

Long is a computer science student, while Johnson and Smith are mechanical engineering students. All three students have had multiple co-op or internship experiences. Long is currently working a co-op in Bentonville, Arkansas, at the Sam’s Club headquarters, and he has previous experience with Oracle Corp in Morrisville, North Carolina, and NASA. Smith was previously an intern with AT&T and Johnson with Toyota.

In addition to the immersive experience, the trio will head back to California in May where they will participate in a paid internship and receive scholarship funding for their senior year to complete their education and continue their experience with Apple and TMCF as ambassadors to the program.