The title of campus queen can help a young lady the discover her ability to evoke change on her campus and inspire her fellow students.
For Morgan State University’s Miss Sophomore Brittany Dorsey, she wanted to use her position to empower others through the story of struggles and success.
On Aug. 12, Dorsey tweeted “I really pray this inspires someone!” before revealing to the campus – and subsequently, the world – her mother’s health issues and the impact it had on her growing up. Her bravery in revealing her story and desire to inspire her fellow students landed her a spot on the Spokesman’s Morganite of the Year list.
Dorsey was born in Queens, NY, and has been back and forth between Willingboro, NJ and New York her entire life. During the constant relocations, she struggled with coping with her mother’s illness.
“In 2012, my freshman year of high school, my mom was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease. It definitely did take a really, really big toll on me,” she said.
“Every day before school she was falling and busting her head open,” said Dorsey. “We would have to take her to the hospital, or I would have to help her get on the bus to get to her program and that wasn’t my only situation at the time.”
Her little brother’s father wasn’t in his life, so she had to be a guardian to him while dealing with her dad being on drugs. She began to develop anger problems, but as the years passed, “I got really tired of being that person, and I was determined to turn my situation into my success story,” she said. “I believe that with everything that I’ve been through that I should be an inspirational speaker.”
Dorsey said that writing the post was her first step in starting her inspirational speaking career. “Originally when I made the post I didn’t expect it to go as viral as it did, but my whole point of making the post was just to inspire people and make people understand that you don’t have to be what you go through,” said Dorsey.
“I just wanted to share that to help motivate someone and hopefully change their life, or change their views of their situation… [To] take a step closer to their success from their struggle story.”
Dorsey originally wanted to be Miss Freshman because her mother was a Miss Freshman at Virginia State University, and she loved it so much she ran for Miss Sophomore. Since earning the title she has been dedicated to the position and been a positive role model to her peers. During her last few years at Morgan, she plans to redefine the meaning of “the Morgan woman” and leave a long-lasting legacy not just as Miss Sophomore, but also as Brittany Dorsey.
“When I leave this campus, I want people to remember me years and years and years down the line. I want my legacy to entail that I am a woman of God most importantly, a woman of perseverance… a person that never allowed her circumstance to get her down,” Dorsey said.
