Ruth B. Bio

           Hello, I am Ruth Bizuneh I am a sophomore at University Preparatory Academy High school. Around school I like to be very involved and in the loop, therefore I joined student government primarily to unify my grade, but as well as the whole school. I plan to be in the law field when I am much older, therefore I am enrolled in the club called Speech and Debate, to guide and assist me with my public performance. I recently just formed a club this year, a club called Black Student Union, the school I attend, is a fairly  brand new school barley at 7 years, since founded. I also formed a club, by the name of Teen Psyche. I am also a spoken word artist, I have been writing for over a year now, but I have always been interested in poetry. I perform at open mics around the bay area, as well as different events where I am invited to.

       I always had a little motto in my head, where I repeatedly tell myself, “if you want to see the change, then be the change”. Which is the reason why I joined NAACP, I have always been interested in African - American history and I knew I always had this strong passion for standing up for our civil rights, Helen Kassa, president of San Jose NAACP youth council, introduced me to the idea of me joining NAACP, and immediately I said yes, I knew this is always what I wanted to do, who i wanted to be. I wanted to be the voice, whether it was through my poetry or attending events where I shared my story so justice could be brought. Now I am Treasurer of NAACP Youth San Jose Chapter.

      As I briefly said earlier, I want to be in law, specifically a lawyer for civil rights, just because i want to protect our God given rights as humans.

Makda B. Bio

Makda Berhanu, a senior at Prospect high school located in Saratoga, California, she is set to graduate in 2015 and hopes to attend a four year university to pursue her career in medicine and minor in business. Makda is a volunteer, athlete and emerging humanitarian. Born in her home country of Ethiopia. Makda came to the United States of America at the age of four.

From a tender age of four Makda has been a kind natured girl who is deeply inclined towards caring for people with special needs regardless of age, and color. She has an inner passion for assisting the poor and disabled. She has a deep feeling for justice and equality, believes in strict observance of moral values and strong work ethic that enables her pursue her dream of being a humanitarian.

Makda would like to found an orphanage in her home country Ethiopia where she had spent her 2012 summer vacation visiting some of the few orphanages and doing charity works. Makda has been actively engaged in community service from the age of twelve and will continue doing so passionately in the foreseeable future. Makda has received a certificate of achievement for her commendable service in helping her community, a letter of recognition from Stanford in par taking in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fellows program, and received the coaches award from Prospect High School in basketball for showing great leadership skills on and off the court.

Makda Berhanu is the Vice President of NAACP youth chapter in San Jose. She got involved in the NAACP to become a leader and advocate in her community. Being a young lady she believes in setting the example that there are no limitations when wanting to achieve success; and that it is possible to reach for the stars.

Helena G. Bio

Helena Getayalew is an exceptional volunteer, athlete, and advocate. She is currently an eighth grader at Rolling Hills Middle School in Los Gatos, California born on November 1, 2000 in San Jose, California. Helena regularly does community service at the Children’s Discovery Museum in San Jose, California, organizing and guiding activities for young children. She is a dancer at South Bay Dance Center and a gymnast at ASA Aerial Tumbling& AcroGymnastics.

       Helena has received four certificates for her outstanding performance in community service from her school, the Children’s Discovery Museum, the Ethiopian Community, and the Santa Clara County. She has also received a certificate for her outstanding work with Project Cornerstone in opposition against bullying.

       Helena Getayalew is the secretary of the NAACP Youth San Jose Chapter. She got involved in the NAACP to make a change and fight for the equal rights of everyone and encourages others to join for the same reason, to leave their mark on the world

Helen K. Bio

 
Helen Kassa is an emerging social entrepreneur and has been involved in humanitarian and community services since she was eight-years old. She is currently a junior at Prospect High School in Saratoga, California and her family heritage is Ethiopian. At age eight, she founded a humanitarian educational program here in the United States and in Ethiopia, called Giving Hope to Kids Like Me. The primary focus of her work is the utilization of education as a tool to help communities raise themselves out of poverty. She had completed several trips back to her family homeland and has adopted a K-8 school in Ethiopia with over 1200 students and has provided school supplies and teaching aids and has built a science lab. Helen is currently preparing with the prominent award-winning humanitarian Dr.Raye Mitchell, CEO and founder of G.U.R.L.S.  Lead, a Global Leadership Program (www.gurlslead.org) that provides mentoring, training, and advocacy for girls and young women to help them become effective global leaders.
            
          In 2012, United States Congressman Michael Honda Awarded Helen a distinguished honor and recognition of the 2012 Ethiopian Community Award. On August 10, 2013 Helen was honored with both a G.U.R.L.S. Lead Global Game Changer Awards and a Certificate of Congressional Recognition from the United States Congresswoman Barbara Lee for the work with Giving Hope to Kids Like Me. Here in the USA, she volunteers with the Silicon Valley Education Foundation, the Step Up to Algebra (SUTA) program, mentoring and tutoring 7^th graders during her summer breaks. Helen has also served as an intern at the Silicon Valley Jewish Community Center to learn how non-profit organizations work. Helen is the president of the NAACP Youth San Jose Chapter and the Education Chair for the NAACP California and Hawaii, region.
           
         Helen is an accomplished athlete, an activist, and a soon- to-be published author. Helen Kassa was born on November 12, 1998 in San Jose, California.

Back 2 School

"Back 2 School"

          It is finally August, the most dreaded month of the year. August signals that our summer vacation has officially come to an end. August is a time full of last minute all nighters and cramming because we procrastinated on doing our AP and Honors summer homework. August is the time to load up on school supplies. August marks the official beginning to a fresh year. We will walk into school with almost a clear slate. The first day of school: no missing assignments, no bad grades, just simply "None Published". August is the time to prep and motivate ourselves to do better than we did last semester. August, the 8th month of the year, represents the beginning of a fresh start. It is a new school year: we have new teachers, new classes, new supplies, and new clothes. Materialistically, everything is new, but are we willing to think like new people? Are we willing to break old habits? Are we willing to change our mentality about learning, education, and our communities? Are we willing to transform ourselves into active, passionate, and dedicated students? I leave that question to you.
        Personally, every year a week before school starts, I reflect on the previous school year and I look back at things I have done well and could improve on. I question my opinions and actions. I push myself to change my perspective on things. I set goals and in a way strategize and create a timeline in order to guarantee myself success in reaching my goals.
        I believe that the most important thing we as students can do is question ourselves. Who knows better about us than us? I feel that questioning our opinions, and perspectives, and even our definition of words, is an important factor in both learning and growing up in general. For example, I sometimes find myself getting bored and or frustrated with some of my classes. The first questions that popped in my head were "How can one be bored with learning?" and "What does learning mean?" For most, the definition of learning is temporarily remembering information, taking your test, then forgetting the topic was ever taught. That is a common yet incorrect understanding of what learning means. By my own definition, learning is finding the relevance in a topic, and then creating interest in it, and then maybe applying the new knowledge both in the class and out. In your English classes, instead of simply reading the texts, try annotation and digging deeper, try underlining and highlighting sections that stand out to you, try finding the connections to the real world, and then creating your own thoughts and opinions on it.
        Ask yourself, "What does it mean to be a good student?" and follow up with "Do I reflect my own definition, or do I still have room for improvement?". It is important to understand that how well you do in high school decides how well you do for the rest of your life. The worst feeling in the world is when you look back and think, "wow I could have done better..". So for your own sake, do not put yourself in that position. Put yourself in a place where when you look back, your first reaction is "How am I still functioning? I really put in work this year". Make sure you are proud of how hard you worked, even if you are not rewarded for it.
       Lastly, hard work comes in only two forms, painful and painless. Painful hard work is pushing yourself for that A in AP Calculus even though math is not your strength. Now, painless hard work is the work and time you put into something you are passionate about. For me and many others in the San Jose NAACP Youth Council, our passion is civil rights. We find joy in fighting on behalf of people. It is what we care about. We are invested in the organization to the point where the work doesn’t even feel like work, it simply feels like "chilling with the squad".

       Necessarily, your passion does not have to be NAACP, but we are here to help you, we are a family, and we work to both build a stronger community and stronger youth. Make this school year worth the while. You are there all day so you might as well get the best out of your day and show results.

With Love,
Helen Kassa, Class of 2016
helenkassa1@gmail.com
San Jose NAACP Youth Council
President


* San Jose NAACP Youth Council's first official meeting of the 2014-15 school year will be September 7th, 2014 at Oak Grove High School, Room X1, 4:30 PM.