With 11 college acceptances and more than 30 direct admissions offers to colleges and universities, Khadijatou Beverly Diallo excelled academically at Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, Maryland.
However, despite her scholastic achievements at the coeducational high school that is sponsored by the Brothers of Holy Cross, Diallo said “the biggest lesson I’ve learned is how to be a servant leader.”
“Every day my teachers and administrators show me another way to be kind, to be patient, to help others and support those around you,” she said. “McNamara is truly a community built on the Holy Cross pillars of being family, building respect, educating minds and hearts, and bringing hope.”
Diallo added that “these pillars aren’t just something we say, but a way of life we adopt ... and I take pride in upholding these values. As a servant leader, I try to use these pillars as a tool to lead.”
Diallo answering the call to be a servant leader is evident in service activities she has participated in both in the McNamara community and in the greater community. As a senior, she was required to perform 30 hours of community service, but so far she has donated more than 100 hours of her time.
Being able to attend a Catholic high school, she said, was important to her because “I was raised Catholic and Catholicism holds great meaning and value in my life.”
McNamara’s campus ministry department and annual retreats “helped me to grow on a spiritual level with God, and also myself,” she said. “Faith holds so many life lessons, and when you learn to tap into it, you hold the tools to change the world.”
Outside of her school community, Diallo has been active as a volunteer figure skating instructor at Fort Dupont Ice Arena in Washington, D.C. When the arena had to close its doors for renovations in 2023, Diallo and other volunteers found offsite locations to provide the subsidized skating lessons to children in the metropolitan area.
“Being able to give back especially through this project means a lot, because I am an alum of the ‘Kids On Ice Learn to Skate’ program, so it’s been really great giving back to the same community that helped me,” she said.
Diallo’s favorite school activities included participating in McNamara’s Traditional African Music and Dance / Sankofa program, the classical dance program, and the Black Cultural Alliance, and playing on the girls’ varsity soccer team.
Through those activities, she said, “I’ve gained leadership skills, community, friendship, cultural pride and a sense of belonging.”
This fall, Diallo will attend Fordham University where she will major in international relations and minor in linguistics. She said she is also “exploring my options of continuing my dance education at the Ailey School,” the official school of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater which is connected to Fordham.
