To inspire her children, Fantasia is going to college at Central State University, a school affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church and one of the nation’s oldest black-run colleges.
The star has felt the need to break a family curse, and that curse is illiteracy. Both Fantasia and generations of her family before her, including her own mother, struggled with reading and writing.
Now, as a successful singer and mother of three – Dallas Xavier, 11; daughter Zion Quari, 19; and infant daughter Keziah – Fantasia told People Magazine that she wants to be a better businesswoman for her children.
Central State University is where the American Idol singer will begin studying business this fall.
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“I’m a businesswoman now and I desire to continue to sharpen my sword and better my craft,” Fantasia told People Magazine. “I want to break generational curses. When it comes to my family, my girls, my children, I want to show them that no matter what she’s been through, you can always get back and go after it again, and that’s what I am doing.”
Fantasia, whose full name is Fantasia Barrino, has had a traumatic experience with going back to school. She dropped out of high school because a popular boy sexually assaulted her at the age of 14.
Though the boy was punished, the feeling prevented Fantasia to return. She did, however, earned her GED certificate in 2009.
Two years after the star became a household name, and while debuting a platinum-selling album, Fantsia has also admitted in her 2005 memoirs to being illiterate, specifically, not being able to read or write. Fastasia’s mother also struggled with illiteracy, ABC News reported.
What hurt her was that the star, a single mother at the time, was not able to read to then-4-year-old Zion a children’s book.
The experience gave her suicidal thoughts.
Regardless of her education, Fantasia won the third season of American Idol in 2004 and launched her career by releasing several successful albums, including “Free Yourself,” “Back to Me,” and “The Definition Of…,” and winning several awards, including a 2011 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for her song “Bittersweet.”
The inspiration for her GED completion was her daughter Zion, to whom she had at age 17.
“I want to be the example, I want to use my platform, my social media, to show people — men, women, Black, white, young, old — that if you have a dream, it doesn’t have to have a timeline,” she told the magazine. “It doesn’t have to look a certain way and, in fact, looks better when it has a bunch of bruises and scars because that means you fought for it.”
“My grandmother used to tell me anything worth having is worth fighting for and I want other people to see that if you just stay in the ring, you’ll get to where you’re going,” she added.
in 2022, Fantasia became an honorary member of Sigma Gamma Rho.
In an Instagram video announcement, the singer thanked, “@nataliemichelleturner @dbrown189 for connecting me with the amazing staff at Central State,” and teased the possibility of making an appearance at the university’s homecoming in October.
