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‘Blackish’ Star Yara Shahidi Accepted at Multiple Colleges After Being Recommended by Michelle Obama

Sure, she has a 4.6 grade point average, but Blackish star Yara Shahidi had a next-level advantage in the college application process: Former First Lady Michelle Obama wrote her letter of recommendation! “I did get all of my college acceptances, and I’m keeping them close to the belt as of right now, but I got into every college I applied to. So that’s really exciting,” the 17-year-old told Seventeen magazine Monday, April 10. “I found all of that out last week. My college plans are all up in the air, but I will choose within the next month.”

Michelle Obama Yara Shahidi
Michelle Obama and Yara Shahidi participate in Glamour’s “A Brighter Future: A Global Conversation on Girls’ Education” on October 11, 2016 at the Newseum in Washington, DC. AP Photo/Molly Riley

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The social activist, who plans to double-major in African American studies and sociology, first met Mrs. Obama when they shared the stage at Glamour magazine’s International Day of the Girl event in Washington, D.C., in October 2016. “She is very amazing and such a supporter, which is something very surreal to say,” Shahidi told W in March.

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Yara Shahidi, Anthony Anderson and Marcus Scribner on ‘Black-ish.’ ABC/Kelsey McNeal

Her Blackish character, Zoey, may also be heading off for higher learning. Asked about a rumored spinoff following the eldest Johnson kid’s college years, Shahidi replied, “Well, that is up to the heads of ABC, but yeah, we want to explore and see where Zoey is going.”

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She’s excited to highlight Zoey’s growing political awareness,”because on a college campus — given the socio-political landscape of our society at the moment — we’re not only dealing with race policy that we got from Blackish, [but also] the intersectionality of race, gender, sexuality and political views and ideals. And so [filming on] a college campus and having Zoey experience life as an independent would a perfect place to discuss that.”

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