September 12, 2026

Scholarship Selection Committee
Alliance of Black Women Accountants
7615 Etiwanda Avenue, Unit 508
Etiwanda, California 91739

Strong recommendation of Ms. Dannae Harris for the 2026 ABWA Scholarship

Valedictorian, CFEG Class of 2023 · Third-year student, Gannon University · Accounting, FinTech, CPA pathway

Dear Members of the Scholarship Selection Committee:

It is my distinct pleasure to give Ms. Dannae Harris my strongest and most wholehearted recommendation for the 2026 Alliance of Black Women Accountants Scholarship. I have known Dannae for five years as Executive Director of the Center for Educational Growth, the nonprofit high school from which she graduated as Valedictorian of the Class of 2023. This recommendation is joined by CFEG's Board of Directors. Dannae is now a third-year student at Gannon University with a GPA above 3.0, building a career at the intersection of financial technology and accounting and intending to pursue the CPA credential. She does not merely satisfy the qualities ABWA seeks. She already demonstrates what it means to use education, mentorship, and professional growth to expand opportunity for others.

Dannae distinguished herself at CFEG through intellectual discipline, integrity, and an unusually mature commitment to her future. She completed finance and business courses taught by professionals in the field during high school and has continued that preparation in college. She is also gaining practical experience through internships with accounting firms. That combination matters: Dannae is not attracted to accounting only as an abstract course of study. She has deliberately sought the academic foundation, professional exposure, and applied experience necessary to understand the work and grow within it. Her valedictory achievement was therefore not an isolated honor; it reflected the habits that continue to define her college career.

“Dannae is our phoenix and our star—a steady beam of what is possible. She rose beyond fear without outgrowing her roots, and every time she returns home, she lights a path forward for her family, her community, and the students coming behind her.”

Dannae is a quiet force—kind, observant, and intensely intelligent. She does not seek attention, yet her steadiness, preparation, and willingness to grow make her presence felt. She left the familiarity of her family and small-island community in St. Thomas to pursue higher education far from home. Living independently and managing the anxiety that came with that distance required courage. Rather than retreating when the transition became difficult, she remained, adapted, and discovered a genuine passion for the accounting and financial career paths that her education made visible to her. That decision reveals the form of perseverance I value most: not performance for recognition, but the private resolve to continue until uncertainty becomes direction.

What most distinguishes Dannae, however, is that leaving home did not lessen her responsibility to it. She repeatedly flies back to the Virgin Islands and gives her limited free time to the school, family, and community that helped prepare her. As a CFEG alumna, she mentors younger students with our leadership, has returned to support our graduations throughout the three years since her own, helps recruit students, volunteers in the community, participates in our STEAM programs, and shares her growing financial-analysis knowledge and professional experience with students who may not otherwise see those careers as accessible. She is also one of CFEG's featured student and alumni ambassadors, representing the school in video on our website. Her continued presence tells our students something powerful: it is possible to leave a small place to pursue a larger opportunity without abandoning the people who helped you begin.

This is why Dannae is especially aligned with ABWA's commitment to the retention, empowerment, support, and mentoring of women of color in accounting and finance. She understands mentorship because she practices it. She understands access because geography once limited the professional pathways visible to her. She understands representation because younger students from the Virgin Islands can now look at her—not as a distant example, but as someone who returns, answers their questions, and shows them what continued education can make possible. Her interests in FinTech, accounting, and the CPA pathway position her to connect sound financial practice with the emerging tools reshaping how individuals, businesses, and underserved communities participate in the economy. CFEG has invited her to carry that work forward as a future keynote graduation speaker and as a presenter and representative in our learning labs and technology-conference launch, with a focus on FinTech and EdTech.

Dannae's leadership is not loud, but it is unmistakable. It appears in the high standard she sets for herself, the courage required to build a life away from family, the discipline with which she pursues accounting experience, and the generosity with which she brings that knowledge home. She impresses me continually because her ambition has not made her less grounded; it has made her more useful to others. She is becoming the kind of professional who will understand the numbers while never losing sight of the people whose opportunities those numbers can shape.

I therefore recommend Ms. Dannae Harris without reservation and urge the Committee to invest in her continued education and professional development. An award to Dannae will support more than one capable student on her path toward accounting, FinTech, and CPA practice. It will strengthen a young woman who is already turning her education outward—bringing knowledge, confidence, and possibility back to students in a small-island community where potential is abundant even when access is not. I am confident that she will honor ABWA's investment through professional excellence, service, and the same steady commitment to lifting others that she demonstrates today.

Please feel free to contact me if I can provide any additional information in support of Dannae's application.

Respectfully submitted,

Sansara A. Cannon, Esq.
Executive Director · Legal Counsel · Chief Technology Officer
The Center for Educational Growth, Inc. · Partner, 1878, LLC

Board endorsement

The undersigned officers and directors join in CFEG's recommendation of Dannae Harris.

Executed electronically on September 12, 2026. Each name above is applied as an electronic signature by the named officer or director and carries the same effect as a handwritten signature.