Brianna Attey Mouanjo receives $5,000 scholarship and will serve as National 4-H Council’s national youth spokesperson for Civic Engagement.
In celebration of National 4-H Week, National 4-H Council announced that Brianna Attey Mouanjo, 18, of Endicott, New York, is the winner of the 2022 4-H Youth in Action Award for Civic Engagement. Attey Mouanjo will be recognized nationally for her racial reconciliation leadership, including the development of a series of anti-racism trainings conducted throughout NY. Launched in 2010, the 4-H Youth in Action Awards honor 4-H’ers who have applied the knowledge they’ve gained in 4-H to create a lasting impact in their communities. The 4-H Youth in Action Award is the organization’s highest honor for a 4-H’er.
At age 11, Attey Mouanjo moved from her diverse hometown of Takoma Park, Maryland, to Endicott. “As the daughter of Cameroonian immigrants, it was a culture shock moving to a new community where there weren’t many people who looked like me. By the time I reached high school, I realized people in my school just needed a place to process their experiences with racism.”
When she joined Cornell University Extension (CCE) of Broome County’s 4-H UNITY (Urban Neighborhoods Improved Through Youth), Attey Mouanjo wanted to continue and expand her racial reconciliation activism as part of her UNITY community improvement projects. As a thought leader, she has shared her perspective in a variety of venues; at youth development forums, facilitating Sunday school classes for older members of her church and as a member of the New York State Government’s Youth Council. As part of her 4-H UNITY community improvement projects, Attey Mouanjo secured a grant from America’s Promise to support the establishment of a Diversity Café at Union-Endicott High School. Her anti-racism workshops at NYS 4-H virtual conferences have also inspired other NYS 4-H programs in several other counties to start their own anti-racist programs for young people.
In 4-H, Attey Mouanjo has experienced belonging and freedom. “After my mother died eight years ago, I struggled to have places to really grieve without feeling like a burden. I mostly just kept myself busy, but 4-H has given me freedom from that. My 4-H leaders have become like second moms to me and taught me how to validate myself – that I will not be a burden or failure, and that I don’t need to be afraid of what other people think of me.”
Now a freshman at George Washington University, Attey Mouanjo plans to study psychology and public health with the goal of working as an adolescent psychologist.
CCE Broome County 4-H is honored to be the only Extension office in the U.S. with three Youth in Action Award winners. As Youth in Action Pillar Award winner for Civic Engagement, Attey Mouanjo joins Nosa Akol, overall Youth in Action winner in 2015 and Clyde Van Dyke, Youth in Action Pillar Award winner for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math in 2019.
Attey Mouanjo will receive a $5,000 scholarship for higher education and will serve as an advocate and spokesperson for 4-H Civic Engagement programming. She is joined by other 2022 4-H Youth in Action Award Pillar Winners, Tashina Red Hawk of South Dakota (Agriculture Pillar Winner); Kristin Osika of New Jersey (Healthy Living Pillar Winner); and Dhruv Rebba of Illinois (STEM Pillar Winner). To learn more about the 4-H Youth in Action Awards and to view the other pillar winners from around the country, please visit: www.4-h.org/youthinaction.
4-H UNITY is part of the CYFAR Program. The project is supported by Smith Lever funds, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, New York State 4-H, Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research and Cornell University.
For additional information:
Beth A. Roberts, Executive Director
CCE Broome County
607-772-8036
