TEDxYouth speaker Elijah Jones '24 advocates for diversity, inclusion, and kindness in education

Elijah Jones '24 has been a social justice advocate since he was a child. He's used his voice to stand up for himself, for others, and educate those who see the world through a veil of ignorance.

Like many of his passionate Gettysburg College peers, being an advocate for change is a part of Jones' identity. But, although he wouldn't change it, and he now embraces it as a part of his journey, living a life of advocacy was not initially a choice for Jones. It was a necessity.

One of Jones' first far-reaching efforts was giving a TEDxYouth@Wilmington talk in 2017 on the importance of diversity in education, which reached more than 17,000 online viewers. Jones learned of and applied for the TEDxYouth opportunity through TeenSHARP, a nonprofit in Wilmington that was founded to increase underrepresented students' access to highly selective colleges and premier leadership opportunities.

Jones also developed a college-readiness program for low-income black students in Delaware and conducted research on how a diverse faculty can benefit schools and students' educational outcomes, which, in conjunction with many other efforts, won him the 2019 Princeton Prize in Race Relations.

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