Black History Month: Connecting With Some of Ridley’s Inspiring Black Alumnae!

By Brie Goodly ’26, Editor-in-Chief; Edited by Safiya Ahmed ’27, Resident Editor

Following a unanimous vote from the House of Commons in 1995, Canada officially recognizes February as Black History Month. This esteemed event celebrates black excellence and honours the numerous impacts made by Black Canadians in this country’s history. The international acknowledgment of Black History Month has recognized a diverse array of black communities all around the world. Starting as an American holiday, Black History Month’s recognition in countries like Canada, Germany, & the Netherlands display the importance of supporting black communities everywhere. Black History Month is now a significant celebration for black communities worldwide, and it offers a time for us to celebrate and reflect on our history and accomplishments. To pay homage to Black History Month, The Tiger Times has met with accomplished black Ridley alumni for a quick and insightful Q&A session. These alumnae are a few of the many examples black excellence within the Ridley community. - Brie Goodly ’26

JULES IDIGBE ’24

Could you tell us a bit about yourself? What year did you graduate, what year and grade did you enter Ridley, what house were you in, where is your hometown, where are you now, and what do you do?

"So right now, I go to Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where I’m studying biology and theatre. I went to Ridley for 5 years, from grade 8 to grade 12. I graduated from Ridley last year and I am from Nigeria and Toronto. I'd say my time at Ridley really prepared me for college, especially since it’s an international school. There's a lot of social interactions that some people who attend other high schools may not be able to navigate, and my Ridley experience helped because I'm going to a different school in a different country. I feel like having that international view on things has helped my social life here."

What are some ways you remained connected to your cultural identity as a Ridley Student?

"I feel like one big event that really helped me connect with my culture at Ridley, being Nigerian and Canadian, was the annual Nigerian Independence Day celebration. It was the one time when all the Nigerians on campus would come together to celebrate our country’s founding. It's like celebrating Chinese Lunar New Year on campus as well. Those types of celebrations, even though they are one-day events, allow people from the same culture to interact with each other, work together, and talk more about their culture. However, it also allows other students to be exposed to those cultures because it's not restricted to just those people in the culture. They can invite their friends, and they'll be able to experience the culture and appreciate and understand the culture as well. This is the same way that Nigerians appreciate and understand their own culture. It allows people to see different cultures but also allows people of the same culture to come together and see each other."

Mesoma ejeh ’18

Could you tell us a bit about yourself? What year did you graduate, what year and grade did you enter Ridley, what house were you in, where is your hometown, where are you now, and what do you do?

"I graduated in 2018, which is crazy because it feels like yesterday. And right now, I am a chemical engineer. I moved to Calgary in the middle of last year, where I worked as a chemical engineer at an oil and gas company. I always say my hometown is a loaded question for me because when I started at Ridley, I was an international student since my family lived in Nigeria at the time. Recently, we became permanent residents, so we have a place in Oakville now. So, I consider home to be both places. As a Ridley student, I was a part of the Tiger Post, Ridley’s student newspaper at the time (which was very similar to the Tiger Times)! For the Tiger Post, I was a writer from grade 10, and I became an editor in grade 11 and grade 12. I was also a prefect, ran bible study, and was part of a club called Days for Girls, in which we collected menstrual products for students at the Jacaranda School in Malawi."

What are some ways you remained connected to your cultural identity as a Ridley Student?

"While I was at Ridley, I went home whenever I could.  So, that helped me remain rooted in my culture. Also at Ridley, there was a decent sized Nigerian community, which was really nice. So, I never really felt too far from home or too far from someone who could relate to me. I think I had it easy because this community helped me stay rooted in my culture."

Are there any forms of improvement that you think could be made regarding support in diversity and Black inclusion at Ridley?

"Honestly, I think I don't know if Ridley did it intentionally, but, I think they did a good job of having different people from different backgrounds, whether Nigerian or German or wherever represented in school. And I think, unfortunately, with the climate and the way things are going now, and there's, I guess, this kind of, like, a weird, apprehension and, like, negative connotation and, honestly, a bastardization of diversity, equity, and inclusion, which yeah. I think it’s super important.  

I won for many reasons. Right? One, because most of the time, there's bias, confirmation bias, whatever bias that hasn't allowed people of minority groups, whether it's accessibility or like diversity being certain rooms or being in certain groups that hasn't allowed them to be in those places. So we've now had to have certain things put in place to ensure that everybody's represented as they should. But beyond that, like there's so much value in diversity, like as an engineer, like what makes your idea really good or well thought out or thorough is when you're able to consider different perspectives.

And how do you widen your perspective? By interacting with different people is by considering different, you can’t buy that, and you can't teach that you either. You either have it or you don't have it. And being somewhere where you’re exposed to different people all the time, there's a certain level of exposure and a depth of character that you get that I think is super important. So, if there's anything I would say we should do, its probably embrace that even more and prioritize that as much as possible. And then also, I think, as you can say for everybody, making sure that minority groups feel like there's a space for them to air out their grievances.

And if they feel like they've been slighted or just anything that made them feel uncomfortable then they have a space to share that, so everybody can learn. And then also just speaking in general about bias, discrimination, and prejudice, just to make sure that everybody is checking themselves on a daily basis or as often as they need to be. Because there are some things you don't know until you do.  A huge thing for me in university was working with the engineering society. So I was a director in the engineering society, and I was a director of social issues.

I would cover race, gender, and accessibility. A huge reason that I spent most of my time working on accessibility was because it was a real gut check for me because it was not something I'd ever considered before. I had never considered bias with ableism. That would be mine.

I went to Queens, and it's a predominantly white institution, and it was a huge shock for me going to because I just took for granted how diverse Ridley really was."

What advice would you give to black high school students that are interested in pursuing a similar career path to yours?

"Just do it. If you're interested, figure out what you need to do to get there and just do it. Whatever that looks like. The days where it's really, really tough and it's like, “why am I here?” But you just keep plugging along and just doing it. There's something my sister said a while ago, “the discomfort I feel now should not outweigh my desire for success,” and it's something I used to check myself. So no matter how I feel right now, what do I really ultimately want to do? That would be my advice. Find mentors. Find people who have gone ahead of you and done it."

What does Black History Month mean to you?

"It's important for a couple of reasons. I wanted to help people at the time because I grew up in Nigeria. I didn't necessarily see myself as black because race wasn't a thing in Nigeria; everybody was black. What defined me was more so my tribe and religion. I started identifying as Black in a conscious sense. Subconsciously, I knew I was Black, but it wasn't something that I necessarily thought defined me because it just didn't come up. There were so many other things that defined me in Nigeria. So, when you come here, certain stereotypes and things come with identifying me that I didn't recognize in myself before. Now, you're kind of having to combat that or figure out what that means in your life, where that’s something that didn't have to happen before.

So, with this new identity, which I'm very proud of, black history is important to me because I think it's almost like compensation for the fact that history has not been acknowledged for many years. And it has been minimized. It has been ignored. It has been, in some cases, eradicated. It's important because you want to amplify, with due cause, people who deserve the recognition that their counterparts got. I don't think it's sentimental. I think it's a very reasonable response to certain things that have happened for years. It's important because we need to amplify the voices that haven't been amplified and that they would have been if they were not black.

In many situations, Black history is not studied in the same way a country's history is. It's important to remind people that these things happened because, otherwise, it will happen again. That's the truth.

Ada Okafo ’23

Could you tell us a bit about yourself? What year did you graduate, what year and grade did you enter Ridley, what house were you in, where is your hometown, where are you now, and what do you do?

"My name is Ada Okafo. I was at Ridley from 2016 to 2023 and live in Hamilton. I lived in Hamilton for the most part while I was at Ridley. At Ridley, I was a prefect, an admissions ambassador, and on the IB council. I also participated in the flourishing council. I also participated in field hockey, squash, and swimming. I'm now at Case Western Reserve University, a university in Cleveland, Ohio. I am a pre-med biochemistry major in my second year. Here at Case Western, I'm currently volunteering at Cleveland Clinic, which is one of the surrounding hospitals in the area. I've done some shadowing, which is interesting, at the emergency department at Cleveland Clinic. There, I'm in the Ronald McDonald family room. Essentially, they give a safe space for families who have to stay in the hospital for a prolonged period of time. There's food, catered meals, cooking, shower services, and more."

What are some ways you remained connected to your cultural identity as a Ridley Student?

"When I was at Ridley for the first two years it was just this girl named Kaka, this girl named Elo, and me. We were the only three black girls. And we were all Nigerian, so it was nice because we could all kbond over our shared Nigerian culture. But it was kinda hard just because we didn't have a lot of people. And then when we got to grade 11, there was an influx of Nigerian students who came to the school. And I think that's when I was really able to immerse myself in my cultural identity and just, like, bond with people with different experiences than me because I'm a Nigerian, but I live in Canada. I've lived in Canada for most of my life versus some of my best friends now.

They lived in Nigeria for most of their lives, and they just came here for school. So it's just really great to hear, like, how they grew up versus how I grew up, our similarities, our differences. So I think that's how I got more connected with my cultural identity at Ridley."

Are there any forms of improvement that you think could be made regarding support in diversity and Black inclusion at Ridley?

"I think maybe more support when we're trying to plan events, especially for the Nigerian Independence Day event. We did that when I was at Ridley, and they also did that when my brother (Okey Okafo '25) was involved with the planning of that and everything. I think the biggest struggle was funding. I think it was just kind of okay and you had to fund it yourself. It was kind of a struggle for us not to know where to turn. We wanted it to be through us, and our families were ready to help, but that's not always going to be the case.

Not everybody has such a generous parent who can be able to help in that way. I think that would be the biggest thing: just the allocating of funds to cultural events, not just for black students, but for students from different religions and different cultural backgrounds. I think that way, when they say, Okay. We wanna do this event, and they're like, Okay. Apply for funding. Here, we have a pool of money, and you can apply. Just like a streamlined process that makes it easier for people."

What advice would you give to Black Ridley students to help them stay connected to their identity while in high school?

" I think I would say, you know, find people that really you connect with. Because I think sometimes there's a pressure of all the black students having to be close. I have to be but like, what connects you isn't just your skin color. It's your experiences, what you've gone through personally, what you've gone through at Ridley. You know, your shared experience is what connects you, so I think focusing more on that instead of appearances. And I think also just advocating for yourself, whether it's culturally, whether it's what you need to succeed, because I think sometimes we're taught to do it alone."

 Don't ask for help. Just be excellent. Be great. And people think that's what black excellence means, doing everything by yourself. But the most successful people had help along the way.

 "I think that would be good advice for people who are future Black leaders at Ridley. I definitely wouldn't be where I am without the help of my friends, teachers, and people who supported me."

What does Black History Month mean to you?

"Black history started out as African American history.  The contributions that African Americans have made, what they've gone through, what they struggled with. And I think now, I see it to be so much more. I see it to be just a celebration of Black people's accomplishments as a whole, whether they're African American, whether they're Caribbean American, whether they're from Continent Of Africa directly, and have still have family over there.

 I'm just glad that it's become this inclusive thing because we really all are connected. If you listen to African American music, African music, Caribben music, you see similarities in how they sound, and it's because of that shared cultural heritage. I think for me, it’s highlighting what people are doing in the community. I have a lot of Black peers here that are doing so much. We're having a Black History Month brunch tomorrow where we're going to award people these certificates for their accomplishments.

 If someone's a mentor, we have a mentor award. We have someone who is the life of the campus, someone who brings joy to other people, someone who always puts a smile on someone's face, someone who we think is going to be a future CEO. I think it's important to highlight what people are doing because it's very inspiring. You know? I think this month, I always hear about the first Black billionaire."

I hear about the first Black person to graduate from Case Western Reserve University. They have a building named after him. And these are all things I didn't know until someone told me, so this is a month for education, for celebration. That's what it means to me.

Thank you to all our alumni, we loved hearing your unique voice about black history month!