Jenessa Otabor, Fenway High, 2023

Jenessa Ottabor writes about how, as the only high school student in a college psychology class, another Black woman helped her overcome her fears and anxieties about speaking up in the classroom.  "The way society is constructed can silence women of color," Jenessa writes,  "but speaking our truth is even more important."  In her essay she vows to be an advocate for "the next Black girl, so she can feel comfortable in herself to engage with the world."