Va. teen wins race relations prize

As a junior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in northern Virginia, Michael Wattendorf, who has been admitted to Princeton, was elected the first white president of its Black Student Union last year. After recognizing the low percentage of African-American students at his school, which is one of the nation’s most selective public high schools, Wattendorf created a mentorship program called TJinspire, which is designed to encourage black elementary and middle school students to consider careers in math and science.

BSU faculty adviser Haywood Torrence, Jr. noted in his letter of support with Wattendorf’s application that TJ’s student body is less than 2 percent African American despite the fact that the surrounding area’s population is more than 15 percent African American.

Wattendorf joined the Black Student Union during his sophomore year, after a white track teammate and BSU member taught Wattendorf some step dance moves. At his teammate’s encouragement, Wattendorf danced in the club’s talent show act and soon began attending BSU meetings.

The idea for TJinspire came to Wattendorf near the end of his sophomore year, when, as part of a panel, he spoke to guidance counselors from middle schools in the area that had not sent many students to Thomas Jefferson.

“These middle school counselors were almost apathetic in the questions they were asking us,” Wattendorf said. “We were on the panel to encourage their students to apply, and they had this idea that their kids wouldn’t get into TJ anyway, so why should they listen to us?”

Wattendorf and other BSU members began developing a mentoring program for three elementary schools with large minority populations and low TJ admissions rates: Franconia, Rose Hill and Springfield Estates.

By the end of his junior year, Wattendorf was elected president of the Black Student Union at TJ.

Though Wattendorf said he did not think the BSU’s members minded having a white president, he noted he was troubled about what others outside the club thought of his position. He went to Torrence and asked if he should serve as co-president with the black student who had been elected vice president of the BSU.

But Torrence reassured Wattendorf, saying, “You weren’t elected by the color of your skin, but the content of your character.”

Torrence’s letter of support described this meeting following Wattendorf’s election. When Theola Labbe-DeBose ’96, co-chair for the Washington, D.C., Princeton Prize in Race Relations Committee, read the letter, she said she was “moved to tears.”

“It’s not so much that he as a white person is leading this black group. If it was just that, I don’t know if that would have moved me,” Labbe-DeBose said. “It all felt very genuine, and it felt like his activities shaped by race, shaped by race relations, were inspired to make things better.”

David Marshall ’93, the other co-chair of the committee, said he was similarly impressed by Wattendorf’s application. Of the 36 applications that the committee received, Marshall said that Michael’s was “the clear winner” and that his work “really just sort of embodied the spirit of the Princeton Prize.”

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He said that, although he thought Wattendorf’s election as BSU president raised some eyebrows, his fellow students recognized his initiative and drive.

“It definitely sounds like the students don’t have an issue at all with his position, and whatever doubts people had have been largely put to bed because his character and his energy and his passion have won a lot of people over,” Marshall said.

Wattendorf said that he recognizes his race may prevent him from understanding the experiences of the Black Student Union’s African American members.

“I don’t think I can pretend to know what it’s like to be black, but I’m certainly open to listening and trying to figure out what it means to be these students,” Wattendorf said. “I’m not trying to represent black students; as president, I’m trying to promote this outreach program we’ve started and to promote increasing diversity at TJ,” he explained.

The Princeton Prize in Race Relations comes with a $1,000 cash prize and an invitation to attend a symposium about race relations on Princeton’s campus. Wattendorf said that he plans to give the prize money to the Black Student Union to continue the mentorship program.

Wattendorf added that he is looking forward to attending the symposium at Princeton. He is currently considering admissions offers from Harvard and the University of Virginia, as well as Princeton.

“Right now, my gut says Princeton, my brain says Harvard sometimes and everybody else says UVA,” he said.

Since it was founded in 2003 by a group of alumni in Washington, D.C., and Boston, the Princeton Prize in Race Relations is now awarded by volunteer alumni committees in 24 regions across the country. This year, there were three dozen applications submitted to the Washington, D.C. committee. In addition to the prize, five certificates of accomplishment were awarded to high school students in the Washington, D.C., area.