Sarah Salama says that her family’s example of helping others makes peace work come naturally to her. She joined West Potomac’s Student Equity Coalition (SEC) her sophomore year and has served as a Student Lead of the organization for the last two years. She worked to organize various events relevant to conflict resolution within the school including spreading awareness of gun violence and harassment, urging equitable teaching practices in classrooms, and assisting first-generation college applicants. The group brought attention to these issues by posting signs, distributing flyers, and holding meetings. She obtained translations of the flyers to several different languages and posted on social media.

Sarah also collaborated with other clubs and teachers on behalf of students with disabilities, immigrants, and members of the LGBTQ community. She brought their concerns to West Potomac Principal Tanganyika Millard who, she reports, cooperated with them to resolve the situations. Sarah advocates working directly with those in authority, and not backing off from important issues.

Assisted by other members of SEC, Sarah held drives for both West Potomac and Fairfax County. They had a Prep-Book Donation Drive which provided ACT/PSAT/SAT preparation books to several dozen students at West Potomac who had no access to them. Sarah also worked to gather supplies such as food, toiletries, and toys from the larger Fairfax County community and to distribute them to centers that serve Afghan refugees. She estimates that they assisted about 150 local refugees and their families.

Teacher Jacqueline Fleming notes that “Sarah joined the Student Equity Coalition last year and quickly rose to leadership. She has been the driving force behind the Coalition this year and is also a leader of a student-initiated and led group that seeks to amplify student voices that are not able to be expressed through more traditional school government and student expression channels. This group is called West Potomac Change, and was begun by a previous Student Peace Award recipient. Sarah is quick to see inequities and injustice. She is a problem-solver and works to right wrongs when she is able. She is outspoken with her concerns and knows how to speak to the administration to enact change. She is also the only student member of The Wellness Committee. Her student-perspective on the committee is necessary and really helps to drive us forward to help the West Potomac community stay healthy and happy. Sarah is a force for change, and I’m really going to miss her next year.”