Advocating for People of Color, Amherst Sophomore is First Recipient of Inspiring Youth Community Service Award
Fifteen-year-old Afsah Kamran used her voice to help and inspire others in her Queens neighborhood of New York City and now as a sophomore student at Amherst Central High School, her advocacy and positivity have earned her recognition from the Western New York community.
“From a young age, I see people who look like me but they don’t feel as comfortable saying what they believe out loud so I would always be the one raising my hand to voice their concerns and I started realizing it was something I was good at and something that people needed,” she said.
She was the recipient of the Judge Hugh B. Scott Inspiring Youth Community Service Award from the Community of Giving Legacy Institute. Presented during the CGLI’s “Pay it Forward Award” ceremony on Nov. 3, the award recognizes outstanding individuals for their personal and professional accomplishments that have increased philanthropy, services and education to communities of color in Western New York. In 2022, the CGLI established two new community service awards to honor the legacy of Judge Hugh B. Scott. Afsah is the first recipient of the newly established youth award.
Nominated by her ACHS homeroom teacher Pam Fordham who wrote that she has witnessed Afsah encourage her classmates to participate in school-wide initiatives that create a sense of unity throughout the building.
“She is eternally positive and supportive, and she makes everyone around her work a little harder to be a little bit better each day,” wrote Fordham. “She is intentional about surrounding herself with positive people and staying out of the high school drama. Even though she is only a sophomore, she has a strong reputation throughout the building, and she is highly regarded as a model student.”
When she lived in New York City, Afsah would set up committees, meetings or book clubs at the children’s hospital, soup kitchens, and food pantries and she would speak to the people in the communities about what their problems were and how she could help, even if it was getting someone into the pantry who speaks Arabic so more people could access food.
“I think because I come from such a diverse background, I’ve lived in New York City for 10 years before this, I already had a sense of what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it and my family travels every summer to a different country and I get to experience how others live their lives in different communities and that has helped shape my view of the world,” said Afsah.
Afsah has been in the Amherst Youth Consortium for three years and has over 60 hours worth of service. Most of her time goes toward food pantries and organizing camps for young children. Her dedication to working and building strong relationships with the community has been demonstrated by her work with the younger students and her relationships with the elders in the same community. She has also been involved in several cleaning projects in local neighborhoods, parks and schools.
“Even though I have only known Afsah for a short time (one year), my weekly conversations with her are the best parts of my days,” said Fordham. “We have had extensive talks about race in America, and her recognition of things that the school is getting right and some of the areas where more work is required.”
Afsah was part of a small group of students who led a staff development workshop on how to support students who celebrate Ramadan and similar holidays. She met with Principal Greg Pigeon and Assistant Principal Scott Lawniczak to see if she could develop a way to share information with faculty about the significance of holidays and what students following holiday traditions, such as fasting, were going through.
“In 30 years of teaching, I can confidently say that the presentation was one of the best I have experienced,” wrote Fordham. “I kept having to remind myself that Afsah and the other three young ladies were students! Their ability to advocate for students of color was inspiring. I left the workshop feeling like I needed to do more - which is exactly how many people feel in Afsah's presence.”
Speaking up for others extends from a passion for law and representing others.
“I want to be the person who could represent others the right way. My goal is to become a lawyer and get into Harvard which is a big goal but I think with the work that I do and the commitment I put in, it’s definitely something that I can achieve,” said Afsah.