Oritsemisan Ejutse (or Misan for short) is a senior at Shiloh High School. She’s captain of the JV Volleyball team and is in all Honors or AP classes, but besides this, she is the President and Founder of the African Student Association.
With such a high portion of our school being African immigrants and first generation African-Americans, Shiloh needed a space where people not only could embrace and share their culture instead of being embarrassed by it, but also give back to their community.
“I wouldn’t recognize my Nigerian roots and I would be embarrassed by my full name, because of how hard it was for other people to pronounce. But when I would pronounce it and explain the meaning of my name, they would love it,” she remembers.
As time went by, she prided herself in her community and actively volunteered within her church. “My church is made up of many people with different African roots, and seeing the unity between them whenever we’d go to homeless shelters or package food for the hungry, made me want to see this same unity between people at school.”
So in her junior year, she began her plan to make ASA a reality at Shiloh High. After finding a sponsor, she created presentations for administrators and our principal to get the club approved. The hard work and time she put into pitching the club paid off, as the African Student Association started this year.
Misan created something that will live on long after she graduates that will empower and give confidence to people just like her.
