Ebony Affair 2013: Miss Sierra Leone USA Wins Outstanding Student Award at Virginia Tech

Hello world!!!

I hope you and yours are doing well. I'm doing fantastic, thanks to the Almighty. A couple weeks ago, I attended the 16th Annual Ebony Affair. This program is one of the signature events of the Black Graduate Student Organization (BGSO) at Virginia Tech. The theme of this year's prestigious event was "Freedom: A Fight Worth Fighting." A formal event, this dinner banquet is organized to recognize outstanding faculty, students, and community members that engage in BGSO's motto: "Lifting As We Climb." The food was delicious and I loved being surrounded in a company of phenomenal women and men of the Hokie Nation. The keynote speaker Dr. Joycelyn A. Wilson, freedom of the press and freedom of expression performances by Joy Thompson and Moises Seraphin, were empowering additions to this event.

Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson

A few weeks before the event, I received an e-mail from the president of BGSO, Eric Fouh, about being nominated for the Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award. I was in complete shock and humbled for this; I felt honored that there were fellow Hokies out there that felt I deserved such an award. Honestly, I didn't think I would win, but elated for being nominated. As God would have it, I did win the Award! I was very shocked, and I'm sure the folks I was sitting with could tell with the gesticulations I made when my name was called out, and I don't really remember what my acceptance speech was, but I hope it was good enough because I was in complete shock! Virginia Tech is the best university in my opinion, and has given me so much, so I am always ready to give back in any way I can. I am proudly Hokie!

President of the Virginia Tech Black Graduate Student Organization Mr. Eric Fouh and Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson

 Once again, thank you to VT-BGSO, and I am appreciative of the fact that Virginia Tech has such an amazing organization like this which celebrates and empowers students of the Hokie community, especially the Black community. Virginia Tech is a university that is not diverse racially, but I love having organizations such as BGSO that promote diversity on our campus. To my fellow students that nominated me, even though I don't know who you are, thank you so much. I am humbled that you found me fitting for such an award, and I am proud to be a fellow Hokie like you. Also, if you can tell me who you are after reading this, I'd love that. Maybe we can grab lunch or something!

My Miss Sierra Leone USA sash and BGSO Award,
two awards I'm very grateful to have received!

Reading the message on the Award plaque really puts a smile on my face, and this is an award that means so much to me. Service is important to me, and my personal platform as Miss Salone USA is advocating for SHERO and the recruitment and retention of girls and women in STEM fields. I love my Hokie community, and I will continue to live out our university's motto Ut Prosim (That I May Serve) to: Virginia Tech, Sierra Leone, USA, and girls and women worldwide. Bay Gכd in pawa! In closing the event, Vice President of BGSO Devon Lee stated that "freedom is not for one person but for all" and he asked each and everyone in audience to ask themselves, "What am I fighting for?" Those last words really resonated to me, I've got answers but I still ask myself that in everything I do from now onward and so should you.

Ruby B. Johnson,
Your Miss Sierra Leone USA.

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Photo credit:

Silas Photography