Title
Presentation: Poetry Recitation by Dominique Ricks, "Black History Month".
Body
Dominique Ricks knows how to captivate an audience. As a spoken-word poet, playwright, and orator, Dominique was one of the initial recipients of the First Wave Full-Ride Scholarship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This $100,000 scholarship is bestowed on students who excel in academics, activism, and artistry, and promotes the ambition of urban artists wanting to excel as scholars.
But getting to UW didn't come easy for Dominique. Growing up in Baton Rouge, he worked extra jobs throughout high school to add a little money to the family budget, while making sure his younger siblings kept up with their education. His hard work and persistence caught the attention of leaders in the BATON ROUGE YOUTH COALITION <http://thebryc.org/> (BRYC), a non-profit that inspires and challenges under-resourced teens to design and realize bold futures. Through BRYC's mentoring and tutoring program, Dominique's ACT score increased 50%.
Now a senior at UW majoring in sociology, Dominique is working on a play that he hopes to bring to the Baton Rouge arts scene this summer. After graduation, Dominique plans to return to Louisiana and continue to promote quality education in the community before continuing his path to law school. Ultimately, Dominique hopes to give back by one day serving as governor of the great state of Louisiana.