PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Students received a surprise announcement at the renaming ceremony for their South Philadelphia elementary school on Tuesday: a promise of free tuition to the college that now shares the same namesake.
Cheers roared from the school’s 500 students when the new Fanny Jackson Coppin sign was unveiled over the door of the school previously named after President Andrew Jackson. The school was renamed last summer for Coppin, a formerly enslaved woman who became a respected Philadelphia educator.
Students at the elementary school have been learning about their new namesake since last summer.
“We’re talking to kids about, what is an educator? What does it mean to have a legacy? What does it mean to be an advocate? All of those things that Fanny Jackson Coppin represents,” said Principal Kelly Espinosa.
“She was local. She was an advocate. So I think there’s a lot of renewed energy here in the building around having our kids really have some ties to who the person is named after.”
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At Tuesday’s ceremony, Anthony Jenkins, president of Coppin State University in Baltimore, told students that the same tenacity that was in Coppin was in each of them. Then, he gave them a huge promise: free college tuition.
“There is a Fanny Jackson Coppin scholarship for full tuition for you at Coppin State University!” Jenkins exclaimed as he high-fived students.
Jenkins said he’d work out the details of the scholarship but believed that money should never be the reason someone can’t earn a quality education.