2026 Honorees of Smith Memorial Playground

I work to turn equity and community connection into lived practice. I lead my school's Black Student Union and BASE (Brothers for Academic and Social Enrichment), creating spaces where Black students engage critically with history, leadership, and identity while supporting one another academically and socially. For the month of January, I’m also teaching a Black Excellence course to help younger students see possibility through real examples. Through my Directed Independent Study on redlining, I’m researching how historic housing discrimination still shapes economic outcomes today. I’ve supported refugee and asylum-seeking families in receiving their Green Card through HIAS PA. I’ve also studied global climate equity at UN COP 30 and the intersection of AI and democracy through the Close Up Foundation and Stanford University. As a new board member of the SEMI Sustainability Youth Network, I help strengthen youth-led community initiatives. Across all of this, my goal is to build systems, knowledge, and spaces that make equity tangible and community care sustainable.