
Edidiong Ekong
Crowley Collegiate Academy in Crowley, Texas
Edidiong Ekong is a junior at Crowley Collegiate Academy in Crowley, Texas. Edidiong is currently the vice president of her school's Black Student Union, where she focuses her work in race relations. Via strategic collaboration with her peers, Edidiong has planned and executed community events centered around race education. During her sophomore year, she noted that her school lacked a minority-centered student organization. Guided by her progressive spirit and help from her peers and faculty, Edidiong helped re-establish a Black Student Union as an organization focused on racial education and advancement through the medium of art and discussion. Early in the project, Edidiong and other club executives realized that art spoke to their generation. Building on this idea, they organized an art showcase centered on Black art and its many muses through the visual and literature-based realms. Dozens of students submitted their art in song and poetry from Black figures like Nina Simone and Langston Hughes. Further expounding on this idea, Edidiong and other club executives reached out to their local library that housed many of their events. In another community event, the Black Student Union orchestrated a Black History Month night where elementary students learned of Black voices that changed the world through crafts and children's literature. Edidiong organized, planned, and led the project. She hopes to continue her work in race relations past graduation through collaboration with Black Student Union organizations from other schools and colleges. Edidiong believes that her school's Black Student Union and her work within the organization emphasizes education, awareness, and community-based action as the foundation of a long flight toward racial justice and equity.