Erykah Rayford, a junior secondary English education major, was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nev., until the year 2005 when she relocated to Greenville, Miss. Erykah graduated from O’Bannon High School in Greenville, Miss., in 2018, later attended Mississippi Delta Community College and graduated from Coahoma Community College. The desire to explore an education major was unknown to Erykah until her mother revealed that Erykah’s beloved grandma’s dream was to become a teacher. Therefore, living by the philosophy of being authentically “you,” she aspires to become a teacher and a citizen who wants people to remember her as an authentic, laid back individual who encourages everyone to “keep pushing.”