Higher education
fromCornell Chronicle
1 week agoBlack Student Empowerment awarded 2026 Perkins Prize | Cornell Chronicle
Black Student Empowerment received the Perkins Prize for promoting community and diversity at Cornell University.
Two Long Island high school juniors are transforming their academic experiences into a mission to help others. Jonah Aloni of St. Anthony's High School and Liel Agajan, a student at Wheatley High School, have founded LIFT - Lead. Inspire. Foster. Thrive., a student-run organization dedicated to ensuring that children struggling in school can receive the academic support they need, regardless of financial circumstances.
What inspired me to step into this student leadership position was I felt it was a really great opportunity to put myself out there in a way that I wasn't really familiar with, and I just felt like it was a really great chance to get to know my peers and people that I maybe kind of recognized but never got a chance to talk to otherwise.