Student named national spokesperson for Progressive U

Shayla Price

Shayla Price, a Southern University student who gained national attention after raising more than $100,000 in scholarships from the Internet, has been named the new national spokesperson for Progressive U, a student-run social welfare organization.

Progressive U, based in San Mateo, California, is an organization that encourages high school and college students to research and speak out on global and economic issues. As its national spokesperson, Price will be a major part of its marketing and media team.

Price, a senior marketing major with a concentration in sales, will be responsible for promoting Progress U's platform online, in the media and on individual blogs.

"I think it's great being named national spokesperson for Progressive U, because I'm representing more than 40,000 students nationwide who are high school and college bloggers," Price said. "Progressive U allows them to comment and give their ideas on the events that are going on in the world regarding global and economic issues."

Price became a national celebrity a few years ago when she raised more than $100,000 in scholarships and grants to fund her college education by conducting Internet research. She has been featured in major national magazines, including Better Homes and Gardens, Black Enterprise, Seventeen and Teen People.

She has been interviewed by nationally syndicated radio talk show hosts Tavis Smiley and Michael Baisden. The 22-year-old has also been featured in a "Campus CEO" article written by Dr. Randal Pinkett, who was Donald Trump's Season Four "Apprentice" winner.

Price has written a book about her scholarship search called "The Scholarship Search: A Guide to Winning Free Money for College."

In 2006, Price said she "stumbled on" the Progressive U Website while doing an online research. She eventually became an online student intern with the organization and later served as the marketing director.

Last summer Price was an intern at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City. The foundation was established in the mid 1960s by late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman. It is the 30th largest foundation in the nation with an asset base of around $2 billion.