Jeannine Schroeder Women in Public Service Memorial Scholarship

I was in elementary school when I first became aware of environments of racism. It was something I read about in books, and it was something I witnessed firsthand while growing up in the Richard Allen projects. At the ages of 10 and 14, I saw people in my neighborhood murdered for resisting arrest. I remember thinking that I needed to step up and raise people’s levels of consciousness about these issues to stop these environments of racism. I began reading Malcolm X in elementary school and learned that he intervened in incidents of police brutality to help people. I discovered that some people hate each other because of their differences. I decided that instead, people should unite, love each other, and stand firm. My success meant nothing if I wasn’t using it to help someone else. I involved myself in social activism and started my social activist group with my Uncle Wayne in 2014. Our group, called the Unitarian Universalist Activism Social Lounge for a Wealthy Mind and Conscience (UUA), battles white supremacy and black supremacy through protesting, sign-holding, and good works. We meet every Thursday and encourage people to see that wealth comes from the heart and mind — not the pocket. Black or white, it’s not the dollar that validates your group; each individual’s intelligence and awareness of their own heart and consciousness. A lot of people are joining us and becoming social activists now. Still, others are hesitant to participate because they fear getting locked up for protesting. That’s a real possibility, but no one from my group has gotten locked up. Sometimes, the police will even honk their horn for support and justice when they drive by. This is astonishing; many police are changing their ways and protecting the community. I use my platform as a social activist to love my community. Outside of the work I do with my group, I often offer spare rooms in my apartment to house people in need. More people should do things like that. Black or white, it’s horrendous that people have to endure homelessness and poverty. Community members should step up and help people experiencing homelessness by being kindhearted (assisting people in getting programs) and having faith that we can help them get back on their feet. In addition to my social activism, I work as a private contractor and a library volunteer at Mcpherson Square Branch. At the library, I try to be an example to the kids. I want them to know that if they want to be a social activist, they can do it, too. Whatever they want to be, they should go for it and pursue their dreams. In Kensington, the need for social activism is enormous. Kensington is one of the most dangerous areas in Philadelphia right now, and two specific needs here are to stop violence and drug use. These problems make me upset. People on drugs still deserve to live a good life, but it feels like they are not listening to reasoning and logic and overlooking the benefits of stopping drug use. However, I believe there must be a break to this vicious cycle one day. Preventing drug use could raise their consciousness and allow them to make better decisions about life. It’s only a matter of time. The goal is to both motivate to inspire my community. Motivation is only temporary while inspiration can stay with someone forever and enable them to change within themselves.

A victim of the school-to-prison pipeline. A teenager beaten by prison guards. A man with post-traumatic stress disorder due to solitary confinement. As I listened to the heartwrenching words of exoneree Andre Jacob’s testimony, I felt the depth of every syllable he uttered. Seeing a man who resembled my father, I couldn’t grasp the reality in which he unfolded. The tears welling up in my eyes watered the sprouting passion for criminal justice within me as his story took hold of my heart. However, the passion growing its roots in my heart had remained hidden and obscure in the parched soil. Growing up as a first-generation American of Ethiopian descent, I struggled to feel a sense of belonging in a predominantly white neighborhood. I felt the pressures of estrangement stimulate solitude. My appearance separated me from my peers; my language barrier caused me to remain mute. My Ethiopian accent induced me to pronounce English words incorrectly, and my peers ensured I was aware of my insufficiencies. As these feelings fostered within my heart, I desired to manipulate solitariness into acceptance. By becoming the Co-President of the IB Minority Club, I strived to diminish the feelings I once carried through an embracing club centered around service and unity. Under my leadership, the club grew from five members to forty-seven as others enjoyed inclusion. The seeds of advocacy for the suppressed in society had developed within me. Suddenly, at the end of a hectic junior year, the death of George Floyd rewatered the withered soil within me. As I saw my brother, my father, and my peers in his dying eyes, my soul burst with compassion; the roots of criminal justice activism dispersed within me. Emboldened by my passion, I joined the Chief’s Youth Advisory Team, where I communicated with Chief Wilson and her team. I gained their perspective on police brutality and the efforts they take to decrease its presence. In an interview with the city of Aurora, I voiced my credence, reaching 6,000 people nationwide. I met with Mayor Coffman and stood up for my beliefs by advocating for an increase in police training. By joining the Justice Education Project, I taught youth the flaws in the criminal justice system. I educated 15,000 people about the criminal justice system through educational TikToks. I became the Co-Marketing Leader, spoke at webinars that provided systemic racism solutions, and helped publish our book, "First Steps Into Criminal Justice Activism: For Youth." Slowly, the seeds of advocacy transformed into a stem of leadership as I longed to become a lawyer. Furthermore, I connected with Chief Deputy District Attorney Victoria Klingensmith, who illustrated the inner workings of the criminal justice system to me. She allowed me to watch a homicide trial in a courtroom; I discussed with different attorneys the subunits within the justice system. Exoneree Andre Jacobs once said, “your success and everything you accomplish in your life...will start in your own heart.” The seeds of advocacy have woven their way through my life; I dream to become a lawyer, defender, and judge. As a student at Cornell University, I’ve found that its community-oriented programs will enlighten my pathway to law school. I joined the Prison Reform and Education Project, which enables me to educate my peers through public speaking events and articles, promoting essential skills to become a lawyer. Furthermore, as a Teaching Assistant in the Cornell Prison Education Program, I will equip inmates with the skills needed to reenter the workforce through rehabilitation. I will take steps to alleviate the horrors exoneree Jacob once experienced and steadfastly advocate for reform and rehabilitation.

My ideal career has always been in the medical field, but my ultimate life goal is to serve as a compassionate and informed bridge between physicians and policymakers. This objective did not evolve overnight but rather grew along with my experiences in my family, community, and in local politics. During a high school internship with a local congressional campaign where I canvassed prospective voters on the issues that mattered to them, I found that access to affordable healthcare was a common topic of concern among voters of all backgrounds. Growing up in a family that suffered from back-to-back chronic health issues, I shared those same concerns. As a child, I saw firsthand how difficult navigating the healthcare system was for my grandparents as immigrants who struggled with the language. In high school, I noted how multiple specialists repeatedly ignored my mother’s health concerns until a routine check revealed a heart valve defect. I could not help but wonder if the care that my family received might have been different if their doctors were trained to look at diverse patients differently and recognize diverse needs. It was in these early days that I realized I wanted to be more than a good doctor. I want to advocate for stricter health equity measures that hold physicians and the healthcare system accountable to the patients who rely on them. Although so many of my goals in medicine lie ahead of me, I have been anxious to find ways to make a difference as a concerned undergraduate. At the beginning of 2022, I interned with the Texas nonprofit CHILDREN AT RISK where I specialized in policy research on child and family health. Working through immense amounts of data on healthcare outcomes in my native Houston, I quickly learned that the maternal mortality rate for Black and Brown women was several times higher than that of women of any other race. Beyond the facts and figures, I knew that there was an underlying problem that the data could not quite explain. It was the same phenomenon, I suspected, that kept my mother from getting the care she needed for so many months. As a research assistant in the University of Virginia Social Cognition and Behavior Lab, I have been given an opportunity to address health inequity, specifically in women's health. I am currently the principal investigator on a study that seeks to understand how and why pain experienced by pregnant women of color is perceived differently by the general public. The implication of this study is to hopefully understand how culturally ingrained bias seeps into medical care, even for physicians who are highly caring and self-aware. With this knowledge, I believe that there are public policy steps that can be taken to improve medical training and alter healthcare policies such as high costs that make marginalized communities weary of the doctor's office. As a future physician and current policy wonk, I am passionate about turning research and words into action. To this end, I plan to intern with a member of Congress this coming summer to further study health policy and share the concerns I have heard from my community. I sincerely hope that the work that I have started today will raise a broader conversation about healthcare equity as it affects all of us.