Most Inspiring: Shateka from Bridgeport

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June 1, 2015
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buildOn Senior Service Superlatives: Most Inspiring
Shateka Knight – Bassick High School, Bridgeport, CT

buildOn Senior Service Superlatives showcase some of the standout seniors from the buildOn Class of 2015. With 92% of buildOn students graduating and going on to college with more than 150,000 hours of service contributed, we have a lot to celebrate this year!

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Faced with the challenges Shateka Knight has taken on in her young life, many teens might get discouraged, become apathetic or simply give up. The graduating senior from Bridgeport’s Bassick High School lost both parents at a young age and spent her childhood bouncing between family and friends. “Growing up I was tossed around, bullied and no one in my family even graduated from high school,” Shateka explains. But she’s quick to add with optimism, “I use that as an encouragement to just move on.”

But Shateka doesn’t keep that motivation to herself. She’s determined to inspire other students to live up to their full potential and forge better futures through service. That’s why she’s buildOn’s Most Inspiring Senior Service Superlative of 2015.

“There is always going to be a kid who might give up, but the thought of service is something different for them,” Shateka says. “I am graduating as leader in buildOn and my school. I left the country to help build a school in another country. I’m doing all these things and if you look at my past and my family’s history, you would never expect that.”

Shateka, who is headed to college at Penn State in the fall, inspired nearly a thousand buildOn supporters during the buildOn Gala earlier this school year with a spoken word poem that brought down the house. Watch:


Watch Shateka reflect on the value of education during her school building trip to Malawi with buildOn during the summer of 2014:

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This graduation season, show your #GRADitude for buildOn by investing in future graduates like Shateka.

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