Evanston Township High School senior Maya Crowe-Barnes has been selected as the 2015-16 Chicago area winner of the Princeton Prize in Race Relations. The Princeton Prize in Race Relations was created to identify and commend young people who are working to increase understanding and mutual respect among all races.
Maya was selected for her work as a member of the SOAR Leadership Board. As part of her efforts with ETHS SOAR (Students Organized Against Racism), she has helped the school develop Equity Zones – student-identified and -designated safe spaces for students to engage in challenging conversations with safe staff members about identity and associated intersections. Maya led a task force that includes members from the school’s advocacy groups, some of which are the Interfaith Youth Corps, the Gender and Sexuality Alliance, and the Black and Latino student support groups.
“There are very few students who today are not just social justice advocates, but are social welfare activists concerned about eliminating oppressive and unsafe spaces and I have hours of conversation and collaboration with Maya as evidence to show that,” said ETHS history/social science teacher Corey Winchester, who submitted the Princeton Prize nomination.