Darwin Otchere is a recognized student leader in the Fairfax County Public School system. As a sixth grader, he won the President's Award for Educational Excellence. As an eighth grader, he received the Humanitarian Award from the Chantilly Pyramid Minority Student Achievement Committee for his contributions to the Rocky Run Middle School student community.

In his sophomore year at Fairfax High School, Darwin was nominated to serve on the City of Fairfax School Board Superintendent's Advisory Team (SAT). He continues to represent Fairfax High School students and to serve as a liaison between students and community leaders as part of this team. Darwin worked on the Advisory Team that proposed, and ultimately helped implement, changing the name of Sidney Lanier Middle School to Katherine Johnson Middle School, effective July 2021. Katherine Johnson was an African American mathematician working for NASA whose calculations helped Apollo astronauts launch into orbit, land on the moon, and then navigate safely back to earth.

As the student representative to the SAT, Darwin presented a slideshow to the City of Fairfax Deputy Police Chief with a plan on how to positively affect the relationship between police officers and students in the Fairfax community.

Darwin currently serves as the secretary of the Fairfax County Student Human Rights Commission, where he is working on issues of racial justice and equality for all students in Fairfax City and County schools, as well as improving the relationship between students from all racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Darwin has attended a number of town halls regarding racial issues within the community, and he has proposed multiple ways for minority students to feel welcome and safe, while sharing their experiences. The Commission collaborates with local community leaders to find ways to ensure that students from all demographics are represented, feel accepted, and are treated with respect.

“I enjoy working on policies and policy-making because I can directly help people,” says Darwin. “Making people feel welcome, not just in the county, but anywhere in the world, is not difficult to do.” He believes that everyone deserves to live comfortably and that no one deserves to be discriminated against or experience any type of bias.

Darwin is also a member of the Black Student Alliance and he is a Volunteer Gold Star recipient in recognition of over 900 hours of community service. His parents, immigrants from Ghana, strongly encourage him to take advantage of all that his community has to offer. Darwin asks, “All of these resources and opportunities – if I’m not taking advantage of them, why am I here?”