Ifeoma White-Thorpe, 18

Ifeoma White-Thorpe is a current undergraduate student at Harvard University, pursuing a double major in Chemistry and Government. She is heavily involved in the Harvard community. In February, she co-founded and chaired Harvard’s first Black Diasporic and Latinx historical fashion show. In previous years she presented original spoken word poetry at various campus events such as Harvard’s inaugural Black Legacy Ball. She also served as a panelist for a poetry workshop and screening at Harvard University. After running against 21 people and winning, she now serves as the only black female on the Harvard Undergraduate Council, where she was unanimously elected to the position of Vice Rules Chair for the Council and Rules Chair for a separate Harvard committee. White-Thorpe also serves as the Class of 2021 Representative for the Harvard Pre-Medical Society and is a board member of the Nigerian Student Association and the Harvard Caribbean Club.

In 2017, White-Thorpe was accepted into all of the Ivy League universities and Stanford University. She was awarded with The World Association of Academic Doctors Academic Award of Excellence and with the Association of Black Cardiologists Academic Youth of the Year Award for her academic feats. She was invited to the New Jersey Senate, where she was issued a proclamation in recognition of her academics and artistry, and was awarded a proclamation by the Maryland Senate as well. White-Thorpe is a Coca-Cola Scholar, Ron Brown Captain, and New Jersey Scholar. She served as a United States Youth Representative at the United Nations Youth Leadership conference for two years and was recruited as an intern to help facilitate future UN events for minors.

She has a keen interest in global health and now serves as a board member for the Student Global Ambassador Project. In her free time, White-Thorpe dances for a Harvard dance team, writes, and presents spoken word poetry. As a winner of the National SELMA Speech and Essay Competition, she currently has an original essay and speech on display indefinitely in the SELMA exhibition of the National Liberty Museum. She enjoys volunteering with the American Heart Association, where she visits underserved public schools and teaches people how to perform CPR and informs them about healthy living. White-Thorpe aspires to become a cardiologist and looks forward to uplifting her community through health. 

The watch

by Ifeoma White-Thorpe

THE WATCH
They watch
They look
But cannot see
That your interior
Has battled your exterior
And resulted in the death of thee
Who walks in your body?
When you are not home
Who has inhabited this zone
That has been coned off
But melts each day
The windows are liquid
And I cannot see inside of your hive
But I let your facade bee
Even if I know it is not sweet like honey inside
Rotten rain drips onto my tongue
And I wring it out with eyes that leak
But they digest every word
That you fight yourself to keep
Up and down
Around until the merry go down
The ride never ends
For those who cannot distinguish the passenger
In their seat
And continues to drive off with deceit
So is today the day?
The day that you whisk it all
And throw the bowl away?
Or do you lay
And wait for no face to pave the way?
And close the door on a foreclosed house
That falls
As the last brick mounts
Who comes to the wake awake
Or did they all throw their invitations away?
Before you mailed them out
You burned them in the sand
And sent bottles of ashes
Accompanied with matches
To their moist lands
They blew out the candles
As you disintegrated in the sea
Yet, they cannot taste you in their waters
You are too diluted
So they cannot tell that their drinks are polluted
Still, they watch
As you arrive
And cannot see
That no one is living

Behind your eyes