Na’Tasha Webb-Prather ‘11 makes the most of her opportunities. During her undergraduate studies at Syracuse University, the Ohio native was a double major in political science and African American studies with a minor in Spanish. She was a Coronat Scholar, studied abroad three times, was president of the Syracuse Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, and became a member of the Phi Beta Kappa national honors society.  She spent the two years following graduation as a Special Education teacher at Stone Mountain Middle School in Georgia with the Teach for America Corps.

Now in her third year at the University of Georgia School of Law, she continues to keep her plate full. In addition to her studies, she has served as the Academic Success Co-Chair for the Black Law Student Association, was selected as a Dean’s Ambassador, mentors teen attorneys preparing for trial in the Athens Peer Court and volunteers with a variety of other organizations including Project Safe.

She credits her instinct to fully engage in her new academic community with her experiences as a Coronat Scholar at Syracuse University. Webb-Prather is a native of East Cleveland, one of the most impoverished neighborhoods and underperforming school districts in Ohio, and believes that the opportunities and financial freedom it provided changed the trajectory of her life.

“I’ve said this before and I will continue to say this,” she says. “I will be forever indebted to the Coronat Scholarship program. I know for a fact that I wouldn’t be the woman I am today without having been a recipient of this scholarship.”

Coronat scholarships are incredibly competitive. The candidates are selected from the best and brightest high school graduates each year. The program provides full tuition, a semester abroad, the potential for additional summer research grants, and admission into the prestigious Renée Crown University Honors Program.

“My first memory of Na'Tasha was the loss of her brand new suitcase on the plane for her interview for the Coronat Scholarship. It arrived by the next morning, but after the two of us did a late night run for essentials,” says Wadley. “There are many in-between memories as well: Phi Beta Kappa, her wonderful Honors Capstone presentation, as well as leading her class into the Dome at graduation. Na'Tasha is a force! And one we are honored to have as a Coronat alum and a graduate of Syracuse."

In her current role as Dean’s Ambassador she has been helping new law students acclimate to law school life--a responsibility she felt qualified to bear.  It’s an environment she was well-prepared for, she says, because of her liberal arts background.

“I think my liberal arts education taught me to analyze a problem through multiple lenses. A lot of my coursework was interdisciplinary, so my professors pushed us to apply the canons of each discipline when we analyzed problems. This has been a huge help in law school because as we discuss case law I am able to analyze decisions based on historical events, political swings, court composition, and more.”

Though she has left Syracuse to make her mark on the world, she looks back fondly on her time in the College of Arts and Sciences.

“One thing that I always appreciated from A&S,” she says, “is the family feeling that was present from the very beginning. From my experience as a Coronat Scholar to living in a Learning Community I never felt like I was in this alone. I could always find someone that cared about what I was dealing with and who was invested in seeing me through to the finish line. So thank you A&S!”