Levi Seth Watkins: This Princeton Graduate Eyes the World as His Opportunity Zone

By: Donald V. Watkins

Copyrighted and Published on May 26, 2025

Levi Seth Watkins: Eyeing the world as his opportunity zone.

Tomorrow, Levi Seth Watkins will graduate from Princeton University. He will be the first Watkins family member to graduate from Princeton. Other family members who are current Princeton students will be graduating in the near future.

Seth is also the first family member who took courses at universities in Nanjing, China and Prague, Czechoslovakia.  

Seth, who is fluent in Mandarin, Czech, and several other foreign languages, plans to attend graduate school in Europe.

Since childhood, Seth has eyed the world as his opportunity zone. He joins the newest generation of Watkins family members who are truly global in every sense of the word.

Seth's Academic Gifts Emerged Early

In November 2017, Seth was the Second Place Winner last November at the Jiansu Cup Chinese Speech Contest held at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.  Seth, who was a 10th grade student at the time, won a full scholarship for three weeks of summer study at various universities in Jiansu Province, China.  

Seth Watkins (right) was the Second Place Winner in November 2017 at the Jiansu Cup Chinese Speech Contest held at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Seth's mother, Quan Watkins (left) attended the contest with him.

When Seth was in Middle School, he and his team of academic scholars won the Alabama Academic Bowl Championship, Middle School Division, on April 2, 2016.

Seth and his Alabama Academic Bowl Championship Team, Middle School Division, April 2, 2016.

Seth is the second son of Dustin Watkins and Quan Watkins.  All four of their wonderful children – Dustin, Jr., Seth, Kelie, and Rian -- are academically "gifted" and each one is a loving, respectful, and caring human being.  Since childhood, all of them have exhibited tremendous class, character, and humility.

From left to right: Dustin, Jr., Seth, Kelie, and Rian Watkins, as children.

Seth’s brother, Dustin Watkins, Jr., graduated from Georgia State University in 2022. His sister Kelie graduated from Georgia State in 2024 and is now attending graduate school. Their baby sister Rian has one year of college to go before she graduates from Georgia State. 

A Treasure Trove of "Earned" College Degrees  

With Seth’s college degree from Princeton, Carmichael/Varnado/ Watkins family members have accumulated a treasure trove of "earned" college degrees from the following institutions of higher education since the end of the Civil War in 1865: Tennessee State University, Northwestern University, Owen College, Lane College, Jackson State University, Rust College, Labette Community College, Alabama State University, Alcorn State University, Drake University, the University of California at Berkley, Temple University, Vanderbilt University, Harvard University, Harvard University School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Morgan State University, Western Michigan University, Southern Illinois University, University of Alabama, University of Alabama School of Law, Meharry Medical College, Knoxville College, Tougaloo College, Clark Atlanta University, Gallaudet University, Saint Augustine College, Spelman College, Atlanta University, Emory University, Hampton Institute, Memphis State University, Wellesley College, Brown University, UCLA School of Medicine, Duke University, University of Miami, London School of Economics and Political Science, University of Exeter (London), Illinois State University, Faulkner University, Huntingdon College, Morehouse College, Louisiana State University School of Banking, Troy State University, Morris Brown College, Auburn University at Montgomery, Howard University, Temple University, Eastern Virginia University School of Medicine, University of South Carolina, University of Alabama at Birmingham, University of Chicago, Georgia State University, Columbia University, McGill University (Montreal), Miami of Ohio University, University of Tennessee, Oregon State University, Southern University, and Virginia State University.

Expanding Boundaries

Members of the fifth and sixth generation of the Watkins family live and work around the world. They are international bridge builders whose lives cross cultural boundaries and language barriers. The bridges they build allow them to experience new worlds and different learning environments. Their friendships know no color or borders. As a result, they are growing in knowledge and wisdom at an accelerated pace.

The seventh generation of Watkins family members in America started with two-year-old Azayah Jordan Deese. Azayah is Rian's daughter and she is attending Seth's graduation ceremonies at Princeton. Azayah is already reading with comprehension.