The 2017 Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference and festivities are now in our rearview mirror. Team SoulBounce is taking a moment to reflect on a couple of highlights courtesy of our friends at General Motors.
Last Thursday, we joined GM Diversity for the second annual Discover the Unexpected (DTU) Fellowship Program awards and farewell luncheon in Washington, D.C. at the Renaissance Hotel. If you don’t know about this program, you need to. It is an innovative partnership between Chevrolet and the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) that pairs eight journalism/mass media/visual arts students at HBCUs with a highly coveted opportunity to write for some of the most historic, distinguished and woke Black newspapers in the country each summer. This year, students were selected from Howard University, Spelman College, Morehouse College and Clark Atlanta University for journalism fellowships at the Atlanta Voice, The Carolinian, The Washington Informer and The Louisiana Weekly. Fellows were paired up and given the keys to one of four 2017 Chevy Equinox vehicles to fulfill their assignments in each city. As if that wasn’t enough, add MC Lyte, the program’s national spokesperson, and Jamilah Lemieux, the students' professional mentor, to the mix and you have the makings of a true once-in-a-lifetime experience.
We personally traveled to the event in style courtesy of Maven, a new car sharing service offered by General Motors, in a fully-equipped 2017 GMC Acadia. It was awesome being able to break away in the middle of the day to celebrate these amazing collegiate journalists and then hop back in the SUV, pump up the jams on SiriusXM FLY, log onto the built-in Wi-Fi and get back to work en route to our next stop. The ease of using the Maven app made everything including car pickup, driving and returning the vehicle a smooth, stress-free process.
Watch the videos below to see some of the amazing adventures and stories from this year’s fellows. Learn more about the DTU Fellowship Program on the NNPA website, and download the Maven app for a pleasant car-sharing experience.