Allie Stern draws inspiration from occurrences that may glide by others.
For example, when the College of Charleston’s Race and Social Justice Initiative (RSJI) unveiled the first detailed report on the disparities in the lives of Charleston County’s black and white residents in 2017, Stern saw the need for a discussion forum on how different activists have responded to issues of inequality in Charleston.
“I felt we needed to have an uncomfortable conversation about the results,” explains Stern. “Social change doesn’t come out of comfort.”
After hearing a presenter speak about racism and health at the American Public Health Association meeting in Atlanta in 2018, Stern’s desire to be a racial disparity activist grew to pursuing a career in the area of racial health disparities.
“Since my freshman year at the College, racial issues have cropped up, and each year the issue has been pushed under the rug and passed on,” says Stern, a public health major. “I decided to create a safe environment where uncomfortable issues could be addressed freely.”
Stern applied for and received one of the six RSJI Student Leadership Awards that are presented each semester. The Student Leadership Award was created as a way to foster systemic social change across the CofC campus and greater Lowcountry community – exactly what Stern aimed to do.
Story by Darcie Goodwin. For more on this story, check out The College Today!
