Student Spotlight: Kanah Bradley

Kanah Bradley grew up on the south side of Chicago before moving to the north side, where she lives now, when she was 10. She has two siblings: one sister (28) and one brother (26). As much as she loves the city, Kanah, who is a senior at Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center, wants to move out of state for college. Her dream school is Duke University, but she is also interested in Cornell, Howard, Stanford, and, after this week’s college visit, Northwestern.

Her parting advice for 7th and 8th graders who are approaching high school is, “be more involved,” because, in life, sometimes, ‘it’s who you know;’ and “take it seriously,” because she went into her freshman year thinking, “it’s going to be a breeze,” and she quickly realized it wasn’t.

Kanah’s favorite subject in school is science. She is currently enrolled in forensics (which is used in crime scene investigations) and anatomy (studying the structure of the body and how it works). This will come in handy next year as Kanah plans to be on a pre-medical school track in college. She has been interested in medicine every since she was a little girl playing with doctor sets; checking people’s vitals. “I just like helping people,” she says flatly. “And I want to get rich,” she says with a smile.

She already has her future car picked out (an Audi) and she wants a condo on South Beach in Miami. She also plans to travel a lot. Recently, she toured Europe for 19 days as part of a People to People Student Ambassadors Program. When asked what Europeans said about America, she says #1 was, ‘Oh, that Bush!’ referring to former President George W. Bush. They also said, ‘Americans are spoiled,’ which she concedes is true.

Kanah heard about Cabrini Connections through her friend Cierria Tharpe. They both attend on Thursdays now, which is when Kanah meets with her mentor, Autumn Sharp. “I love Autumn,” she exclaims. They are in their second year together, which, as a senior, Kanah says is better because she gets a lot out of the sessions when it comes to college preparation.

Good luck with your applications, Kanah! We hope your dreams become your reality.