Westinghouse Grad, Rapper ‘T Star,’ Heads To Columbia College

Challenges are what Tandrea “T Star” Hawkins lives for. The Westinghouse College Prep graduate says she thrives off of them.

“Challenge yourself, you should never want to be in the same position and feel comfortable,” she says. “I love challenges. If it doesn’t challenge me, I’m bored.”

Tandrea, who is an actress, model, rapper (“T Star”) and entrepreneur, will attend Columbia College Chicago on a full tuition scholarship to major in music business and minor in hip hop studies. She’s been “entertaining” since she was two-years-old.

Although she does a little bit of everything, Tandrea says music is her main focus.

“Music kind of intertwines all of it, so I’ll be acting in some of my songs,” she says. “It’s like I put on this whole different persona. And when I’m on stage, I get to dance and put on this show.”

Directing time and energy toward her rising career didn’t affect her in school, she says. The AP and Honors student graduated a semester early in the top of her class with a 4.5 cumulative GPA.

“My four years went by really fast, but I was so focused, had tunnel vision because I had goals,” Tandrea says. “I was trying to excel in everything I did.”

Lack of support was never an issue for her. Besides family, there was her “other” family.

“I loved all of my teachers and staff at Westinghouse. They were very supportive,” says Tandrea.

Networking is what she says she is most excited about when it comes to college. It’s the different people she will meet at Columbia College that she’s looking forward to.

“I may meet a fashion designer who wants to dress me for a tour one day,” says Tandrea. “Education is great, but so are the people you meet. That’s what you’re paying for, along with the degree.”

Her future looks bright she says. When she thinks of what she’s already accomplished and the direction she’s headed in, she has confidence that she’ll be successful.

Besides making music and traveling on tour one day, Tandrea says she wants to continue growing her brand. The young entrepreneur launched a teddy bear business when she was 16 and a clothing line, T Star Collection, in 2015.

“It started off just being an urban brand, but we branched out and have done gowns, just different types of fashion, so it’s not one look. It varies.”

The teddy bear business was inspired by Tandrea’s godsister.

“She had a teddy bear that she could not go anywhere without,” says Tandrea, adding that her godmother put the T Star label on a shirt for the bear. “She would not go anywhere without this teddy bear. We were like, ‘Ok, we need to do something with this,’ and so we started the brand.”

Later this year she has plans to bring the bears to children in the hospital.

With all that Tandrea’s doing, she says it shouldn’t surprise her that a lot of people look up to her, but it still does at times. Even though there’s pressure that comes with her role, she says she wants to continue having a positive impact on people.

“I want to use my platform to inspire people and motivate them to do better,” says Tandrea.

Her advice for incoming freshman?

“High school is very cliquey and you have to find your crowd,” she says. “Knowing who’s like you, that’s very important. Who’s going to work as hard as you? Who’s going to slack off? If you know you want to do good in school, get with the people who are going to motivate you.”

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