As the Lees close out a special chapter in their lives and get ready for the next, they’ll be taking the time to enjoy the moment together. With family coming in from Detroit and elsewhere for their May 7 graduations, including Quila’s twin nephews, they have an eventful few days planned to mark the occasion.
Twins Kamiya and Kalaya will be there to cheer on their mother and older sister during the early ceremony for graduate-degree candidates, and after plenty of smiles, hugs and pictures — and some lunch — Quila, Rakiya and the rest of the family will file back into the Convocation Center to celebrate the twins as they receive their bachelor’s degrees.
But while savoring the moment, they’re still doing what they always do — looking to the future.
Finishing up her first schoolyear as a classroom teacher, Quila is now certified to teach in secondary school as well, up to high school seniors, though she has no immediate plans to move on from Babb Middle. She has, however, already approached her school’s administrators with her plans to one day apply to doctoral programs in education. She can see herself as a school administrator, in the future, and has plans to a establish a youth-focused nonprofit to be named for her mother, Sheryl. It’ll be called SHERYL’s Haven, an acronym for Sharing Hope through Empowerment and Repositioning Yourself for a Lifetime of Success.
“I know I’m going to be a lifelong learner,” Quila says. “But for now I’m going to take my foot off the gas and enjoy teaching and immerse myself in that.”
Rakiya Lee (B.S. ’17) will complete her Master of Public Administration at the same time her younger sisters and their mother complete their own degrees.
Rakiya, who recently got the promotion, has a soft spot for children as well, and is weighing whether to enroll in law school in preparation to practice family law, or pursue a Ph.D. Like her mother, she doesn’t seem to have had her fill of note-taking, research, term papers and syllabi.
“I always want to keep advancing and keep my brain sharp,” Rakiya says. “If you can do something you thoroughly enjoy doing, it doesn’t seem like work.”
Her next step, she says, is to figure out her next step.
For younger sister Kamiya, that next step is starting the Georgia State School of Public Health’s Master of Public Health program in spring 2026. In the meantime, while working as a pharmacy technician, she’s planning to log some time as an assistant in a women’s clinic, with her ultimate goal of becoming an obstetrician/gynecologist.
As a volunteer at Wellstar Cobb Hospital, just down the road from her high school, Kamiya’s already gotten an insider’s view of the emergency department, neonatal intensive care unit and other areas, experience that will bode well when she later begins applying to medical school. The connections she’s made as a member of GSU student organizations like the Minority Association of Pre-Health Students and the Student Government Association will also surely pay dividends.
“It’s been nice making all of these connections,” Kamiya says. “Georgia State has endless opportunities for healthcare students.”
