As one of the only Black students in advanced classes at her high school, Kimi experienced and saw how students of color faced daily microaggressions, implicit bias, and lower expectations from educators throughout her school district. She founded Students for Racial Equity, a student-led community-wide organization that is dedicated to empowering culturally and linguistically diverse students in Arlington, Virginia. She graduated high school with an International Baccalaureate diploma as well as honors from the National Honor Society and National Society of Black Engineers. She will be studying biomedical engineering at Columbia University in the fall. She plans to combine her interest in STEM with her passion for equity advocacy and use innovations in biotechnology to advocate for equity in healthcare.
“I’ve personally experienced inequity in schools and I want the opportunity to help fund equity initiatives so that other students like me don’t have the same experiences.”