Yara Shahidi is about to become even more of a badass than she already is, in part thanks to a recommendation letter from former first lady Michelle Obama.
Mrs. Obama wrote a letter of recommendation to accompany Yara’s college apps, and as I’m sure you can assume, it did the trick. Shahidi was accepted to all the colleges she applied to and plans to make a choice about which college she’ll attend within the next month, she told Seventeen.
How exactly did Yara get Michelle to write that recommendation? Shahidi says Obama is a supporter of hers—they met in D.C. last year at an International Day of the Girl event hosted by Glamour, according to Us Weekly.
No matter which college she chooses, the young actress, who has a more-than-perfect 4.6 GPA, wants to major in both sociology and African American studies.
In light of Yara’s exciting college news, there’s been talk of a Blackish spinoff starring Shahidi’s character Zoey, who also happens to be going to college soon. Shahidi told Seventeen the spinoff is up in the air, but she feels it would be a great way to talk about issues that are relevant on a college campus.
“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,” she said.
I sure hope this idea becomes a reality. In the meantime, I’ll be cheering on Yara and wishing I could call up Michelle Obama for help with job applications.