Home Education and Careers Archmere Academy senior Chinwendu Emedoh has addressed various issues at United Nations

Archmere Academy senior Chinwendu Emedoh has addressed various issues at United Nations

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Chinwendu Emedoh of Archmere Academy.

CLAYMONT — While many people headed to the beach or the golf course, Archmere Academy senior Chinwendu Emedoh spent a day of her summer in New York City for a community education conference. That experience included her speaking at the United Nations for the third time.

“I was able to come in, speak on community education in third world countries. That’s what the whole day was about,” Emedoh said recently on the Archmere campus.

Emedoh also received an award later that day during a gala at the United Nations. She has been working with the international agency since her freshman year and has spoken there three times.

Her grandparents were both educators in their native Nigeria, and that is the origin of Emedoh’s work at the UN. Her late grandmother had a degree in education and opened a school in Nigeria with another woman. Her grandmother remained as principal of the school until starting another institution. An aunt succeeded her grandmother when the latter died.

Emedoh’s mother’s family began a foundation to honor her grandparents. The Barr Juni and Irene Menakaya Foundation International promotes education for people in rural communities around the world.

“They started partnering with the UN to spread awareness and to honor my grandparents,” she said.

One of her aunts is an ambassador at the United Nations. She saw that Emedoh had the same passion for education as her grandmother, so she invited her niece to participate in the UN’s fifth annual International Day of Women and Girls in Science in February 2020.

“She had me come in,” Emedoh said. “It was mainly through my aunt and the foundation that I’ve been able to speak on these different things. I’ve done speeches on the abuse of women and girls in third world countries, bringing youth together to spread awareness, and the last one was community education.”

The research is in-depth, but Emedoh finds it interesting and inspiring. She said what she discovers makes her want to speak out about the issues she studies “and actually do things. She thinks she could keep this advocacy as a side gig to her main plan, which is to study pharmacy.

“I could combine the two and bring awareness and medical attention,” she said.

It’s early in her senior year, and Emedoh, 17, has not decided on a college yet, although a few have moved toward the top. In addition to her academics, she keeps busy with the diversity club, helping to start Archmere’s cultural nights. That idea came from her middle school in Delaware County, Pa., where she lives. She is also a member of the spring track team as a shot putter and discus thrower, and the school’s 5K Club.

Emedoh said she has visited Nigeria once, when she was 4 or 5 years old. She has family members spread around the world, but she would like to return to the African country to meet her extended family.