Ohio State student activist leading social justice movements



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Kaleab Jegol, a first year in political science, started her own non-profit organization, "Education for Ethiopia". Credit: Courtesy of Jillian Finkel

Few adolescents can say that they spoke at the United Nations or have contacts like Democratic House Representative Nancy Pelosi, but Kaleab Jegol is not an average teenager.

Through her work in Women's March Youth and the creation of her own non-profit organization, Education for Ethiopia, Jegol has had notable success at an early age. After meeting activists like Linda Sarsour and Yara Shahidi, he helped to create a national movement.

As part of Jegol's latest project to lead the Power to the Polls project, an electoral initiative to register one million people before polling day, he is working with other young activists to pave the way for change.

Nevertheless, when he thought about the ultimate goal of his change, he paused. 30 seconds elapsed before his eyes lit up when he said, "I want to get out of this world by seeing a concrete legislative change in the way women and girls are treated in this world and for each child to grow up with the feeling of power.

His experience in the suburbs of Ohio complicated his identity and he lived a life of the minority made him appreciate even more his diversity.

"In existing, I resist a world that does not want me to exist," Jegol said.

Jegol's identity is largely influenced by his immigrant status. When he arrived in America at a young age, he was forced to participate in civic engagement because he said the system in Ethiopia did not value the same form of democracy.

"My individual identity as an immigrant is not just me," Jegol said. "We are a collective community and we help make our communities safer and improve schools."

Through his pbadion for education and his pride as an Ethiopian, his non-profit goal is to: "Strengthening schools with supplies and fundraisers", Education for Ethiopia report says website.

Her friend Jillian Finkel, first year in political science, laughed as she remembered how they had won the senior superlative at Mason High School in Mason, Ohio, for "more chances of being president" , then acknowledging that because of his immigrant status, Jegol can not constitutionally do so.

"The power of your own past and your own story has a lot of impact and I think that it has caught on that, "said Finkel." He talks about personal experience as an immigrant and explains how his family came to live a better American dream. "

Three years ago, Jegol's pbadion for civic engagement turned into a youth activist by becoming involved with Women's March Youth, a subset of the organization that organizes annual women's walks in Canada. nationally. He was even one of the 18 people to organize the national day of disengagement, where more than two million students across the country have left their clbadrooms to protest gun violence.

His role in this highly publicized national event was to serve as an extension of the community in black, brown and immigrant communities, while serving as a link between the March of Women and the March for our lives.

"Working with the March of Women is working for my release, the release of my sisters and all the other oppressed and marginalized, "said Mr. Jegol, adding that it was" an intersectional organization that collectively believes in our release ".

Among his other projects and activism, he will release his first op-ed in the New York Times in a few weeks.

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