Race Relations Prize Awarded To NSCDS Student

WINNETKA- GLENCOE, IL— From North Shore Country Day School: North Shore Country Day School (NSCD) is proud to announce that junior Emmy Cho was awarded a 2019 Princeton Prize in Race Relations. The Prize, founded in 2003, recognizes and rewards high school students who have had a significant positive effect on race relations in their schools or communities. The volunteer-run organization has 27 regional committees who choose Prize winners from each area around the country and Cho was awarded the prize for the Chicago region.

Prize recipients were invited to an all-expenses-paid trip to the 2019 Princeton Prize Symposium held April 25-27 at Princeton University, where she met her fellow prize-winning students to engage in meaningful discussions about race and race relations. She also received a $1,000 cash prize.

Cho was honored for her work in building community for Asian American youth across the suburban North Shore, most notably her role in co-founding the Chicago North Shore Asian-American Youth Conference (AAYC). She co-founded the group in 2018 with her sister Isabella, also a junior at NSCD, with support from teachers Laura Hsieh and Christina Baik. Their efforts have created a meaningful coalition of students from NSCD, Glenbrook South High School and Niles North High School. The group has focused on building bridges across different Asian American identities and are planning on holding a symposium in the future. AAYC has also created space for Asian American teachers to discuss best practices for teaching Asian American students and how to make school a safe space to express themselves.

“There is little opportunity to interact with the diversity of Asian American youth,” Cho said. “There is also little communication between these groups. While voicing the Asian American experience to the general public is pertinent, it is first necessary to find solidarity amongst each other.”

In addition to her work with AAYC, Cho was honored for her efforts to further improve the NSCD freshman Intro to Upper School class regarding discussions around diversity. She was inspired by her involvement with the Chicago chapter of Facing History and Ourselves, an organization that engages students of diverse backgrounds in order to promote the development of a more humane and informed citizenry. She hopes to help develop a space where more students feel comfortable contributing and being vulnerable in discussions around race and diversity. Faculty members have responded favorably and plan to enrich the program next year.

At the Princeton Prize Symposium, Cho met youth from across the nation who shared her passion for improving race relations in their communities. She met one student who donated books to girls in Mongolia to connect with her roots and a mixed-raced boy who focused on creating community with other youth of mixed-races.

She also attended lectures by Princeton professors who discussed their work related to race relations, as well as college student activists who shared their experiences centered around racial identity. The prize winners then participated in consulting sessions with Princeton alumni and board members who provided feedback and advice. They ended with an interactive fair that invited alumni and other community members to learn more about the students’ projects.

Cho was also honored on May 7 by the Princeton Club of Chicago at a regional ceremony hosted by Northern Trust. After an introduction by NSCD art teacher (and AAYC sponsor) Laura Hsieh, Cho delivered a speech in which she reminded youth of their agency, and that their opinions and experiences matter. She was followed by guest speaker and Princeton alumnus Craig Robinson, Vice President of Player Development for the New York Knicks and brother of Michelle Obama.

Robinson shared his reflections about race relations within athletics, and how he has observed stronger relationships than in the outside world. He attributed it to the spirit of teamwork and the sense of belonging that rises above physical appearance or superficial differences.

“Winning the Prize has transformed how I see my future,” Cho said. “I’ve been so inspired and am starting to see that it is possible for me to have both a professional career and continue my activism.”