Inspired by her family to treat others the way she wants to be treated, Eden Aklog says she strives to help South County High School and her local community. With assistance from her parents, Eden became an ambassador to the New Hope Rehabilitation and Healing Center located in Alexandria. This organization has a mission “to reduce the rapidly-growing epidemic of substance abuse and related deaths among the youth by treating individuals holistically, integrating evidence-based medicine and biblically-based principles.”

Eden, along with other high school ambassadors, helped raise funds for the Center through local car washes, bake sales, and -- most prominently -- an auction at the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington DC which raised approximately five-thousand dollars for New Hope. (For more information on New Hope Rehabilitation and Healing center, please visit https://www.newhopehealing.org/)

Eden also serves as Co-president of the Pathways to Progress Club at her school. She helped bring a chapter of this club to South County High School with a mission to interest more minority and underrepresented students in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) related programs. (http://www.pathwaystoprogress.org.)   As part of her service, Eden participated in a local Pathway to Progress field day fundraiser where proceeds went to Computers2Kids (https://www.c2sdk.org/).

Eden has been a member of South County’s International Club since ninth grade, and this year she became the club’s Historian. The goal of the International Club is to celebrate and spread diversity. The Club hosts an international night which promotes dancing, food, and fashion from all over the world. Eden is also the Social Media Manager for the Ethiopian-Eritrean Association – an organization that welcomes and supports the many Ethiopian students at South County High School.

Eden Aklog is committed to creating an inclusive environment both at South County High School and in her community.  She says she resonates with the quote about peace, “When things change inside you, they change around you.”