Year In Review
2018-2019:
The complex issue that I have worked on this year was increasing the literacy rates within urban Cincinnati. Many don’t know that Cincinnati, even with a relatively low population and population density has one of the lowest literacy rates in America. Not only does this affect the education of youth and adults in the Cincinnati community, but it also affects the poverty rates as well. As well as these devastating rates of literacy and poverty, the majority of the impoverished and illiterate community is African American. Now, this is on no fault of their own, this is due mainly to systematic racism within the government and deeply rooted racist policies that lasted for generations. With this being said, I decided to tackle this issue this year. Before coming to school, I had no clue of these issues that Cincinnati had, and I was outraged by them. I began by joining a program named LEGACY, which was started by my mentor Lauren White, in order to boost the literacy rates in the Cincinnati community. Once a week we would carpool to a local public school and tutor the children for about an hour. When I first started the program, I was extremely nervous because I feared that I could not give the children the precise knowledge they needed because I thought I would not be able to relate with them. This was because I come from a privileged family and never had to worry about half of the things that they had to on a daily basis. Despite this, I went in with my head high, expecting to teach the children so much, but little did I know the amount of knowledge that these second graders would be giving me. My expectations were completely flipped after my first session. I expected these children to be struggling and need immense help reading and writing but this was not the case at all. They were extremely intelligent and even eager to learn. The thing that I realized was that their teachers were mainly yelling at them for their behavior, but when you sat down and really tried to understand the children, they wanted nothing more than to learn. Most times they were frustrated about the amount of attention that the teachers paid to behavior instead of their education. They were excited to see us to get someone on one time to focus on their education. These young children taught me to truly get to know someone before you judge them because judgment can be worse than neglect. I plan to continue my passion for helping children learn, and I even plan to expand this to train teachers on how to focus on academics and not behavior.
University of Cincinnati Transitions Program
This is a program geared to helping African American students get acquainted with the campus, and also to meet other students who look like them. The program required us to move in a few
days early in order to perform team-building skills, get educated on the history of black people on campus, and form connections with the other students. My experience was nothing short of enlightening, and this program helped me find myself.
2019-2020
I've created a podcast to highlight my experiences from, this year!
2020-2021
The phrase I would use to describe the past year would be ambivalent. I say this, because at times, this year was one of the worst, not only for myself but for the majority of the free world having to deal with a global pandemic on top of the hardships that we face everyday. Yet, for many, including myself, this year has provided great clarity and drive that pushed me into the future with hope and passion.
My year started with me being “kicked out” of my dorm and relocating back to Philadelphia because of a rapidly progressing virus, COVID -19 which instilled fear of not only a known virus, but also fear of the unknown future for myself and those around me. I use air quotes when I say “kicked out” because I recognize my privilege in being able to have somewhere I can go back to and call home. As the world began to slow down, my life began rapidly increasing.
As you may recall, I finished out my sophomore year running for Student Body Vice President at the University of Cincinnati. After a long and strenuous journey, my running mate Gerald and I were banned from the race, which at the time was devastating but played a large role in my overall growth this past year.
As soon as the pandemic hit, and thereafter the rise and many social and racial justice movements, I began to be approached by many companies and organizations asking me to contribute and facilitate conversations and topics that I had been studying since middle school.
I began my work with the Center, for Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation at UC, developing tangible ways to implement radical empathy in to the lives of individuals and the conversations of team members and faculty. This work has lasted all the way until now, and I intend to continue It for years to come, as we have developed writing materials and physical steps on being an “ALLI.”
Through the center, feels like people are finally beginning to listen when we say Black Lives Matter, and even though they may not fully understand that that means, they are asking the questions that they refused to acknowledge for the past decade.
Along with the TRHT, I have had amazing opportunities to work with companies like the Urban Consulate of Cincinnati, the School of IT at UC, The Cincinnati Museum Center, The National Freedom Center, and more recently Interning work at a company called CoHear, whose main focus in highlighting individuals’ experiences. I even attempted to run for Student Body President this year along with all my other responsibilities.
With all of the amazing projects I have worked on and the amazing people I have connected with, the one thing that I learned this year is how to prioritize myself. I was always raised to be humble and think about other’s before myself, which is the reason I am so dedicated to dedicated to service and humanities today; but through this past year, I have realized that sometimes it does have to be about Akua, because realistically I am the only one who will ever make it about Akua.
Also, I completed my life long dream of joining Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated!