On Saturday, Microsoft executive and Virgin Islands native Rashida A. Hodge introduced Adaina Smith as the first recipient of the new Rashida A. Hodge Scholarship, a scholarship to attend North Carolina State University funded through Hodge’s $1 million donation to the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands and valued at more than $60,000 per year.
Speaking at the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands office, Hodge reflected on her journey from St. Thomas public schools to a career in technology.
A graduate of Charlotte Amalie High School, Hodge earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial engineering from North Carolina State University before building a career that included 20 years at IBM and leadership roles at Microsoft.
“What got me there was people believing in me, people seeing the potential in me before I saw it in myself,” Hodge said.
Hodge said scholarships and mentors helped create opportunities that her family could not afford on their own.
“My parents couldn’t afford to send me away to school to go to North Carolina State,” she said. “I received scholarships, and people sowed into my life.”
She said the scholarship is intended to provide not only financial support but also mentorship for future recipients.
“You can be as smart as you want to be, you can go to the best school, but access and opportunity are sometimes a blocker,” Hodge said. “People were kind and gracious enough through mentorship and sponsorship to open doors for me, and I want to be able to do the same for her.”
Smith said the award will allow her to pursue her education without the burden of student debt. “I just want to say a big thank you to the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands, as well as Rashida Hodge,” she said. “I hope that this will serve as an inspiration to other young students like me to apply for scholarships like this.”
She encouraged other students to take advantage of similar opportunities. “Apply. Never give up on yourself,” she said.
“This scholarship, the Rashida A. Hodge Scholarship, is so exciting for us because it’s the biggest award that we have,” Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands President Dee Baecher-Brown said. “We see investing in young Virgin Islanders as one of the most positive ways to build the future of the Virgin Islands.”
Hodge said the scholarship honors the example set by her grandmother, Iolina Turnbull-Hodge, whose emphasis on education helped shape generations of the family.
Rashida’s uncle, architect Brian Turnbull, said he was able to attend college only because of his mother’s sacrifices and unwavering encouragement.
“I was able to go to college because of savings from my mother,” Turnbull said. “She did everything in her power to make sure that I could go to college.”
Turnbull described his mother as a woman with “a simple lifestyle” and uncompromising principles, particularly when it came to family and education.
“She stood behind her children and supported them. There would be nothing that she wouldn’t give to her children,” he said.
Those values were later passed on to Hodge by her mother, Karen E. Hodge, who said education was always a priority in their household.
“Education is a powerful tool, and it’s a tool that everyone should use,” Karen Hodge said. “Never skip it out, never slack on it … Learning is the most powerful tool that we have.”
Hodge’s father, Sen. Dwayne DeGraff, said the award provides more than financial support, noting that Smith will also gain a mentor in his daughter.
“She has a great role model in my daughter, Rashida, who’s going to guide her through,” he said. “And I know Rashida, she’s going to make sure she goes from the beginning to the end. She ain’t gonna let that young lady fail. That’s who Rashida is.”
With the first scholarship awarded and more students expected to follow, the Rashida A. Hodge Scholarship endowment now links a St. Thomas family’s long emphasis on education with a new generation of Virgin Islands graduates.
