Extra Curricula
President of the Black Student Union and Intersectional Feminism Club, Local Election Canvasser, Founder (Agassiz Neighborhood Name-Change Initiative), Girls Lacrosse Team
Favorite Class at CRLS
My English classes have been my favorite because they’ve taught me the most about unlearning what I previously knew. After every English class I have taken at CRLS, I’ve left not only feeling like I’ve improved my analytical writing skills, but also like I’ve developed a new understanding of inequality within storytelling. For example, both my African Literature and English 10 classes forced me to address the danger of a single story and reevaluate everything I had previously read.
Favorite Teacher
My favorite teacher is Kevin Dua. As an underclassman, I began to notice a certain climate within our school that I felt needed to be fixed, and there was no teacher that went the lengths to try to fix it like Mr. Dua has. As my BSU advisor and Psych teacher, I have never met a mentor so willing to protect, advocate for, teach, and learn from every student he knows. Without his endless support and motivation, I do not know where I would be today.
What are some of the out-of-school time (OST) programs that you participated in between grades 6 - 12?
Founder (Agassiz Neighborhood Name-Change Initiative)
How did being enrolled in any OST program(s) contribute to your success in and out of high school?
In late spring of 2019, I created the initiative to change my neighborhood’s name. Louis Agassiz, the 19th century biologist my neighborhood is named after, used his science to classify black people as inferior. A Cambridge City Council meeting was held Monday, Feb 6, 2020 to begin the process of a name change; I received a unanimous vote from all City Council members.
To provide context to such articles, my sophomore AP U.S. History course inspired me to research the history of my neighborhood. Through that research, I discovered disturbing facts about Louis Agassiz– the biologist my neighborhood is named after– regarding his claim that people of African descent are biologically inferior.
After discovering more about Agassiz, I began to feel less at home within my own community. How could I comfortably walk down the streets in a neighborhood– that I have lived in for my entire life– named after a man who did not think I was worthy of equal treatment because of the color of my skin? Not only did this discovery open my eyes to injustices impacting my own community, but also to the many institutions, neighborhoods, street names, etc., across the country named after bigots that are protected by systemic racism. Continuing to defend these nomenclatures is destructive because names matter; a legacy of the past that we choose to honor reflects its persistence in the future, and if we continue to accept it we are continuing to overshadow the bigotry associated with that legacy. Therefore, by allowing such names to remain in our society, we are actively ignoring bigotry and validating legacies whose victims are among us today. Sickened by the idea that systemic injustices have conditioned all of us to believe that this is acceptable, I decided I did not want to be a part of the silence and joined the ongoing revolution against protecting this way of idealizing past injustices and offering them a clear passage to the future.
What did you like most about CRLS? Why?
What makes CRLS a special community is its vast amount of open minded students and actively listening members of staff. Over the years, I’ve been inspired by other students to question the systems put in place around us, especially within our building. One example includes the walkout for sexual assault in May of 2019, an event organized entirely by students. This walkout, among many other demonstrations held during my time in high school, pushed me to acknowledge the flaws within our incident reporting process. Later that year, some student leaders who saw similar flaws decided we wanted to do something about it, and began the initiative to revise our Incident Reporting process. When students come together at CRLS, a lot can truly be achieved.
What is something people unfamiliar with CRLS should know about the school? Why?
If you are unfamiliar with CRLS, you should know that there is a place for everyone to become a better version of themselves. There are endless opportunities for students to learn, get involved with the community, explore different activities/interests, etc.
Advice to Incoming Freshmen
Check Aspen frequently; don’t let yourself fall behind. Visit your teachers before and after school to stay ahead. Try new things, and commit to what you feel most passionate about. It is okay to say no! Prioritize your mental health. Only take classes that interest you, but definitely take classes that will push you outside of your comfort zone.
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