Liberal Arts names psychology student Cherish Graham as 2026 Schwartz Fellow

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State College of the Liberal Arts has named Cherish Graham, a psychology student and mental health advocate, as the 2026 Schwartz Fellow. This prestigious fellowship recognizes outstanding undergraduates for their academic achievements and contributions to the humanities.

"Being named the Schwartz Fellow is a privilege I didn't know I needed," Graham said. "I'm grateful to Professor Eric Silver, whose class and mentorship made me more thoughtful and more curious, and to Amelia Dodoo, whose own 2023 Schwartz Fellowship first opened my eyes to this possibility."

The Schwartz Fellows Program provides a year's worth of funding — as much as $45,000 — to support a graduating student who plans to engage in a 10- to 12-month postbaccalaureate service activity related to social change, the environment, disaster relief, youth development or other causes. The fellowship is the first of its kind at Penn State and was established in late 2021 by Rhea Schwartz, a 1971 graduate in French and Francophone studies, and her late husband, Paul Wolff.

Graham's project, "Stories We Carry: Destigmatizing Mental Health in Ghana Through Community Storytelling," reflects her identity as a first-generation Ghanaian American and her long-standing commitment to culturally responsive mental health care. Both of Graham's parents immigrated from Ghana, and she said that when she touched down in Accra during a visit in December 2023 — her first trip back in 12 years — it felt immediately like home. She found out she had been selected as the 2026 Schwartz Fellow on March 6, Ghana's Independence Day, a coincidence that was not lost on her.

"Ghana was the first sub-Saharan country to gain its independence — it's a revolutionary nation and people," Graham said. "I felt like this project is in that same spirit."

From July 2026 to July 2027, Graham will be embedded in six communities across Ghana — spanning urban centers like Accra and Kumasi to regional hubs in the Volta and Central regions — implementing a stigma reduction initiative grounded in community storytelling, facilitated dialogue and youth-centered creative education. In many Ghanaian communities, mental health challenges are often framed as spiritual or moral failures, leading families to delay or avoid seeking care. Graham's project confronts that stigma directly, using storytelling as an entry point for honest conversations about anxiety, depression and help-seeking — drawing on both its deep roots in Ghanaian culture and research demonstrating its effectiveness in reducing mental health stigma in Black communities.

"Storytelling is what's most natural and most familiar to us as human beings," Graham said. "Even anciently, it's how humans have always carried culture, heritage and information. I felt like that was the right entry point."

The project will culminate in a feature documentary premiering during Ghana's Mental Health Awareness Month in May 2027 and a fundraising campaign to provide mental health supplies to local health compounds and establish a scholarship for a young Ghanaian pursuing mental health advocacy. The initiative is being implemented in partnership with the Ghana Mental Health Authority and the University of Ghana Department of Mental Health.

At Penn State, Graham has served as a research assistant in the Depression and Anxiety Lab, a lead teaching assistant for a course on ethics and moral reasoning, co-membership chair of the African Students Association and a resident assistant. Long term, she envisions the fellowship as the foundation for a career as a licensed clinical psychologist and the establishment of a free, community-based wellness center in Ghana's Central Region — a vision she describes as rooted equally in her faith and her commitment to culturally responsive care.

"This project isn't meant to solve stigma in one year," Graham said. "It's the first milestone toward building culturally responsive wellness centers in Ghana and across the African diaspora."

Additional information, including previous recipients and information about applying for the 2027 fellowship, can be found on Schwartz Fellows website.