Ariana Isabel Duckett
News Editor
The UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) Office of Black Student Development (OBSD) awarded five students the Vision Fellowship to develop personal projects for winter and spring 2025.
Founded last year, the Vision Fellowship provides mentorship and financial support for Black students at UCSB to pursue personal projects that fall within four categories: media and arts, research, community wellness, or athletics.
The Bottom Line (TBL) spoke with three recipients: Sydney Scott, Donavan Walker, and Sinderella Okwaraibekwe.
Sydney Scott
Third-year psychological and brain sciences major Sydney Scott received the fellowship for her pop-up beauty supply named Crown Collective. “Even before the fellowship, I had an idea of what I wanted to do, but I had really no idea what it would take to actually do it,” Scott told TBL.
“There [are] not that many places where I personally have felt comfortable asking for help from people,” she said, and UCSB isn’t “very oriented to Black culture.”
Scott spoke with Ashlee Priestly, the OBSD Academic Achievement Counselor, for resources and was told about the Vision Fellowship. “[OBSD] offered so much support, emotionally, and just being there.” Scott said that she often studies at the OBSD as well.
Every other week the group of Vision fellows meet and learn about resources related to their projects.
“The first [week] was how to run a sufficient business, whether that’s marketing or budgeting [or] planning,” Scott said. “They gave us a few other resources on campus where we could ask for grants and stuff like that as well, which is really helpful … it’s definitely given me a lot more structure on how to do things, and so it kind of went from just an idea that I wanted to do to something that I’m actually doing now.”
Once Scott received the fellowship, Priestley offered to help by holding her own pop-up — she is a jewelry vendor — alongside the first pop-up for Crown Collective on Monday, Feb. 24. In addition to the offer, Priestley has provided many resources for Scott.
“I’ll talk to [Priestley] and be like, oh, there’s so many things that I know that I’m not thinking about right now. So, what do I do here, what should I do here, or who could I ask. If she doesn’t know, she’ll give me a resource to ask that person,” Scott said.
Scott hopes to continue hosting pop-ups and seeking financial support. “[Crown Collective] is a for-profit business, so we will be getting money — all the money is gonna go back into the business or going to this organization called The Color of Autism,” a non-profit which supports Black families with members on the autism spectrum.
Donavan Walker
Walker is a fourth-year music composition major at the College of Creative Studies (CCS) who has worked on his project, a recital titled “Layers,” since the summer of freshman year. “‘Layers’ is pretty much the culmination of my undergrad experience. It’s pieces from early from when I first got here to some that are super recent,” Walker said. “It’s gonna be live music, there’s a voice actor — [it’s a] very story-driven recital. I don’t like calling it a concert because it moves more like a play.”
Walker spoke with members of the Black Student Union to try to find sponsors and collaborators for his recital and was told about the Vision Fellowship.
In addition to financial support, the Vision Fellowship provides other opportunities as well. “We’ve gotten a lot of resources on where to find funding, how to ask for it, and there’s supposed to be way more resources and meetings about just networking and all types of stuff. So, it all kind of ties together and helps me up.” Walker said. “[It] helps me get in the business mindset of it while the actual project helps me still kind of balance that making music and the musical side of it.”
Walker hopes to continue his work in film scoring, producing, and writing beyond the Vision Fellowship.
Sinderella Okwaraibekwe
Second-year sociology major Sinderella Okwaraibekwe also found out about the Vision Fellowship through Priestley and applied for her project titled “The Oasis of Resilience,” a day-long retreat centered around cultural identity and mental health.
Vision fellows meet with Priestley every other week, meeting as a group on the alternate weeks, both of which have benefited Okwaraibekwe. “Having [Priestley], makes me feel like I’m not by myself and it’s a resource that I can use and lean onto. The stress of planning such a widescape project doesn’t get to me,” Okwaraibekwe said. “Being in a room with like-minded people, it kind of allows us to connect” and “thrive off of each other’s energies.”
“The Oasis of Resilience” is scheduled for May 10, during Mental Health Awareness Month, with a variety of events planned.
“There’s definitely gonna be presentations that people put on that they connect with deeply and they have like substance to actually talk about and connect with other people that would be listening,” Okwaraibekwe said. “And with workshops, I’m kind of still in the brainstorming process, just to make sure that every workshop that I’m putting forward has a meaning that can clearly connect to cultural identity and mental health,” to make her retreat unique.
The retreat is open to everyone, and she hopes to make it last two days in the future. “The main theme is bridging the blurred gap between cultural identity and mental health. So if you resonate with that anyway, I feel like everybody is welcome to come and have that different experience.”