Solebury School junior Alliyah Allen was among 90 high school juniors honored at the Widener University High School Leadership Award ceremony in February at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
Alliyah came to Solebury School through the Wight Foundation. She excels academically, (top 10 of her class) and also is inspired to make a difference in the lives of her peers and younger students.
Alliyah, an African-American girl, sees her obstacles as being different from others at Solebury.
”I had to change my way of thinking when I enrolled at Solebury. I was the smartest student at Rise Academy. I realized I wasn’t the smartest, which made me work harder. Now, I understand that it’s not about being the smartest. It’s about understanding how to be a better person. I went from wanting to get all As, to wanting to do well in everything.”
As a member of Judiciary Committee, Alliyah shares her broader perspective, so when someone does something wrong, she focuses not on the discretion, but on identifying the reasons and strategies to fix the problems. She feels that strengthens the community.
As an athlete, Alliyah never liked to practice. Now, as goalie for the field hockey and lacrosse teams, she realized she has to lead by example. She runs that practice mile and works to achieve goals collectively.
”It’s more important to compete against myself and strive to better myself than be better than everyone else. I had the wrong idea of what a leader is. It’s about being a part of the team.”
As a dorm proctor, Alliyah is there for her dorm mates. “I don’t want other girls to be sad, so I might sit with them when they can’t sleep or if they’re homesick. I want everyone to feel accepted.”
Alliyah has clocked over 70 hours of community service, working at her old school, helping teachers with class work, grading papers, and organization.
She also is involved with Solebury’s service learning program, Teach2Serve. For her project, she is creating a website focused on inner city middle-schoolers. The website will be a resource for students to help them get organized, develop study skills, offer advice on when to approach teachers for help, and student testimonials of peers who have made it against all odds.
Alliyah is one of four students who spearheaded a Teach2Serve service project to help the Village Charter School of Trenton with tutoring, mentoring, and playing with the third- to fifth-graders. Every Monday and Friday, a group of Solebury School students visit the school.
”It’s nice to have a student mentor, to see that they went to this school, and then made it into a private school. It says a lot to these students. I want them to see that somebody cares and say, “See, I made it and you can too.”
RISE ACADEMY (Newark) is the second of two middle schools in the TEAM Schools network. RISE Academy School of Science & Technology, are free public charter schools. RISE means “Raising Individual Student Excellence.”
RISE Academy has a science and technology focus. In addition to a solid core academic program, students are engaged in hands-on science activities daily.
Students are exposed to daily science education activities that extend beyond the classroom in order to expose them to science in their world.
The Wight Foundation provides grants, based on family income, to attend boarding schools in the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions. Applicants must currently be in the seventh grade, excel in their academic work and attend school in the Greater Newark area (Essex, Union, Hudson, Passaic and Middlesex counties).

