The Power of Words: Mav Smith ’26 Awarded Beinecke Scholarship
July 23, 2025
- Author
- Mary Elizabeth DeAngelis

Smith in the Kente/Kete Village in the Volta Region of Ghana while studying with the Davidson in Ghana program.
Mav Smith ’26 writes because she must; it’s how she downloads, processes and tries to understand a rapidly changing world where tensions spun from differing political, cultural and ideological beliefs are amplified by social media.
She knows her words won’t touch everyone, but hopes they make people think, question and appreciate life experiences that may not match their own. That’s what reading great literature has given her. Her own work has resulted in numerous awards and accolades at Davidson College and has now been recognized on a national scale.
Smith will be in the newest cohort of the prestigious Beinecke Scholarship Program, which will support her post-graduate studies. She will use the opportunity to grow as a writer and scholar.
The Beinecke Scholarship Program has granted the award to college juniors enrolled at participating institutions, including Davidson, for the past 50 years. Smith is the fourth Davidson student to receive the award since its inception. The program encourages and helps highly motivated students pursue a “courageous” path through post-graduate studies in the arts, humanities and social sciences. Smith is one of 20 scholars selected from across the country. The total award is $35,000.
“There’s no way I thought I would get this, I was tired and stressed out when it was time to apply and I said I wasn’t going to,” Smith said. “But even in a moment when I didn’t believe in myself, the Davidson staff and faculty told me I should — they’ve been completely supportive and encouraging and have a deep commitment to seeing me succeed.
“Having these opportunities is a team effort and every time I reached out for help, they have been there.”
A Poet and Leader
With a bright smile that appears quickly and often, Smith seems to know everyone on campus. She double majors in English and Africana Studies, and has won writing and leadership awards, including the Spencer-Weinstein Prize for Community and Justice. A Posse Scholar, Bonner Scholar and Patricia Cornwell Scholar, Smith also served as a resident advisor and spent two summers working with the Brenda H. Tapia Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools Program, teaching and mentoring grade school students and other interns.
Smith grew up in Memphis surrounded by a close extended family of educators and storytellers. Her great-grandmother often quoted Maya Angelou, introducing Smith to the poet’s words as a young child.
At Davidson, she’s studied and analyzed the work of other Black women poets and writers, such as Alice Walker, Gloria Naylor and Audre Lorde. She says those works — a window into the different eras they lived through — continue to resonate today.

Smith and classmate Wiley White ’25 on one of the last days of Smith’s favorite classes at Davidson, “ENG 287-1: African American Literature & The Archive,” with Prof. Randi Gill-Sadler.

Smith visits the Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary and Cultural Village in the Volta Region of Ghana with the Davidson in Ghana program.
Smith credits her professors, including her advisor, Randi-Gill Sadler, assistant professor of Africana Studies, for introducing her to different writers and perspectives.
“Mav always expresses a high level of enthusiasm for the literature,” Gill-Sadler said. “She has an eagerness to engage with a variety of Black literary traditions and literary criticism. She also has strength as a poet — she’s very much able to communicate poetically and draw people in.”
The two have spent many hours talking about Smith’s writing projects, and how she needed to develop her ideas.
“Mav knows that to grow as a writer you have to be comfortable with revision,” Gill-Sadler said. “It’s not about what you get on your first try, it’s how much you work to improve it. Toni Morrison said the ‘grandeur is in the attempt.’ The beauty of Mav is that she’s willing to make the attempt.”

Smith attended the Charlotte 2024 Pride Parade with a Davidson contingent.

Smith at Davidson’s Annual Fall Fling, sponsored by Union Board and the Student Government Association.
Smith said she’s been challenged by and benefited from professors who offer honest feedback.
“I don’t think I’d be as comfortable with writing if I had not had professors sit and work with me about how to write a good paper, or why the paper I’d submitted wasn’t good enough,” she said. “Davidson professors want us to think for ourselves, and to submit things not just for grades, but for growth.”
Smith envisions a future as a writer and professor, sharing her love for words and ideas with students. She’s exploring both MFA and doctoral programs.
“Writing for me is about far more than winning awards and recognition,” she said. “It’s about how I can use my craft in this moment to make the biggest impact.”
Studying writers who offer commentary through their prose and poetry inspires her to help others see the world through different, and more empathetic, viewpoints.

I don’t only write for my own comfort, I write so when other people read it, they feel something. I hope sometimes that feeling is joy. Literature, especially at this period in time, can tell us how to find a way forward.
Beinecke Scholar
Office of Fellowships
The Beinecke Scholarship competition is administered at Davidson College through the Office of Fellowships. Learn more about the Office of Fellowships, including how to apply for a Beinecke through Davidson College.