Meet the Rutgers senior who recieved a prestigious scholarship to Cambridge

When Chelsie Riche greeted me at the Livingston Student Center, she stood up and said “I do hugs,” and that genuine kindness is reflected in all of the lives that Riche has already impacted. Riche, the recipient of Gates Cambridge Scholarship for the fall of 2017, said she still hasn’t truly processed it all and doesn’t think she will until she is boarding the plane for England in September.

Considering Cambridge is one of the most prestigious Universities in the world and Riche is one of 36 students from the United States to be awarded the scholarship, there’s a bit of pressure. “I have to meet people’s expectations. It’s odd too because I feel people have this perception of me as this brilliant person and someone who has never suffered,” Riche said. On the contrary, Riche has suffered more at 21 years old than some have in their entire life.

Riche came to the states from Haiti when she was thirteen to live with her father after her mother passed away. Moving here was a shock for her at first when she realized the issues surrounding inequality. “I was like wait this is not the land of opportunity that I dreamed of. It was at that moment I realized I wanted to do something about it.”

The fight for education reform did not begin in college for Richie, but in high school where tutored students and interned with Seton Hall in the summers. Her passion for education reform is part of the proposal she made to Cambridge, where she will be studying the Fees Must Fall, a student-led protest movement against increases in fees at South African universities.

“My mom passing was the catalyst in my life, the first question I asked was what is going to happen to my brothers? And I had to start working harder for them.” Riche says that was how the domino effect began and once she became motivated, she found the drive to want to change the world for not just her brothers or herself, but anyone she could.

Although she came to Rutgers as a chemistry major, she struggled both in and out of the classroom. She said she was doing poorly in her classes and diversity was lacking in her academic environment. “Freshman year was an important narrative for me because I struggled. I had to figure out who do I go to for help and it was a learning process for a first generation student,” Riche said. She added that the Douglass community was truly the support system that lifted her back up.

After taking the course Black Experience freshman year, Riche quickly had an epiphany and switched her major to Africana Studies and history with a minor in women’s and gender studies. Once Richie did find her path at Rutgers, she became unstoppable. She is now the president of GOYA – Galvanizing, and Organizing Youth Activism – where they do not do community service “to make ourselves feel better but to create something sustainable.” She also spent a semester abroad in South Africa and interned for Senator Cory Booker the following summer.

One thing that Riche has learned throughout her years of fighting for education reform is that people often do community service without creating something that will have everlasting results. So, when she studied abroad in Cape Town, South Africa her junior year of college, she successfully passed along skills that students could use without her assistance once they knew how.

At a high school titled Ned Doman, Riche was able to work with a group of students during her time there. Riche was able to provide resources for the students that allowed them to recognize their opportunities after high school. She brought them on their very first school trip and now, they know how to discover these resources and create opportunities for themselves.

“I didn’t want to make it about me. I wanted to pass along the skills that were something sustainable to the students. They now know how to raise money. They’re not always depending on foreigners coming in and saying I’ll be the savior,” Riche says.

After her fellowship at Cambridge, Riche plans on receiving her JD in law and her Ph.D. in education but will continue her studies on continental Africa at the University of Cambridge. “I don’t want to go into a profession for money but I need to provide for my family and myself; it’s hard,” Riche says.

At one point Riche laughed and said she was still working on how to provide self-care without binge watching Netflix for five hours. She said she was excited about Cambridge but nervous to be so far from her father. “I’m an adult now and that’s scary.” All of these fears from someone who is changing the world and with a brilliant mind are the same things every single Rutgers senior has right now, so how does one strive to make a difference each day?

When asked how one goes about making effective change in the world, Riche said it’s important to never stop learning and being open to opportunity. “It’s dangerous coming into a space saying I am going to save everybody. Creating and establishing relationships with people is so important, especially people who are marginalized because it doesn’t help to assume that you know what they need. When you do know you can work together, not for them but with them.”

Riche reflected on this and then explained that activism is more than an action, it is a being and that we should always strive towards progressivism and be better.