Chinwendu Emedoh '23 Speaks at the United Nations

2/28/2020

Archmere Freshman Chinwendu Emedoh spoke at the United Nations' 5th International Day of Women and Girls in Science on February 11, 2020. Chinwendu addressed the need for innovative ideas for girls in science in less privileged areas to over 800 attendees that day. An avid philanthropist, Chinwendu devotes most of her extracurricular time to community service, and is not only a member of the Archmere Community Service Club, but she is also involved in the Diversity Club, and the 5k Club on campus.

Chinwendu wrote about her experience at the United Nations for the Archmere community:

I am the 8^thgrandchild of my grandparents who believed and lived their life on earth in service to humanity and community development on education. Growing up in the environment of my uncles and my aunts, I used this spirit of service to humanity from them and began to prepare myself on how to give back to my community. I started community service through the Youth Group program at my local church, and I’ve been participating in various community projects and services like serving the homeless at Hope Café, playing bingo with the elderly at their nursing homes, and distributing Christmas gift donations from my local church. I believe that I became more passionate and fulfilled when I hear the effects of these small actions. The Community Service Club at Archmere, among other activities, has helped me to continue to do service and help other people. I am glad that I can continue to serve others here at Archmere.

My Mom’s older sister, Ambassador Dr. Ada JUNI Okika CDKA, who is the Executive Director of Center for SDG Global Education USA and a United Nations Representative, saw this passion in me and mentored me to nurture my passion along Diplomatic Agenda. In her words, “I would like for you to grow up to become a United Nations Diplomat”. So, my first visit to the United Nations in New York was in August 2019 when my Mom and her siblings launched our grandparent’s foundation, The Barr JUNI and Irene Menakaya Foundation International at the United Nations, whose main purpose is to promote education for people in the rural communities around the world. My first thought was, “wow that’s so cool!” The name came from my grandmother, who was an educationist and operated a nursery and elementary school in the Eastern part of Nigeria. The school is currently managed by my aunt. My grandmother didn’t live long enough for me to meet her, so I’ve heard stories from my mom about her. The stories allowed me see myself as an extension of her, always willing and ready to help others in need. This helped me to not only understand what my aunt had in mind for my future, but also led me to the opportunity to speak at the United Nations' 5th International Day of Women and Girls in Science on February 11, 2020.

It was a very long day, and there were a lot of people, perhaps maybe 800 or more. The event started with presentations from so many people from different parts of the world - like Turkey and France. There were also girls that came from different states and countries to promote the use of technology for women and girls in poor communities. It was a great experience to listen to girls that were older than me and younger than me from around the world. It was very interesting listening to all their ideas on how to make a difference in other people’s lives, as that was also my goal as well. I made suggestions on how we can achieve the goal by providing resources for the less privileged in rural communities. I also listened to speeches by United Nations Ambassadors who are UN representatives of their countries, such as the visionary of the Women and Girls in Science, Princess Nisreen El-Hashemite. She is the granddaughter of King Faisal Bin El-Sharif Hussein and she shared her story on how she became passionate with science as the only girl growing up with her brothers in her family. Her story inspired other girls to achieve their dreams in science. I was actually very nervous to speak even though I’ve done plenty of public speaking before, but when I saw this 11-year-old speak, my nerves settled a little more. I was the last one to speak at the event because there wasn’t enough time to continue, but the others that didn’t go had another session.

My next goal would be to try and get my ideas into use and maybe speak at the UN again. I would also like to encourage more girls to live out their passion in any science field. It would be nice if Archmere could start a program where people can learn how the UN works, learn more about Women in Science, join the Women and Girls in Science project, and possibly be part of the UN Day of Women and Girls in Science marked every February 11 and 12 each year at the United Nations. Through the program, there could be class pen pals with the schools in developing countries, and we could promote the UN goals in the school. People that become part of the program could also develop internships to their desired science center. I hope my experience will lead to others to go out and try things they never knew they might like. I didn’t think I’d like to speak in front of hundreds of people until I actually did and experienced it, and I enjoyed it.

Congratulations to Chinwendu on this amazing accomplishment!

To view Chinwendu's speech, click here. She begins talking at 3:21:11 and ends at 3:25:17.

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