We met 17-year-old Emani McKnight, a senior at Riverdale Country School, last week on a panel discussion following the film. Her eloquence and confidence reminds us of the personal development a prep school education nurtures in our youth. She also confirmed that issues of race and desegregation are not long gone. Emani shares her perspective with us.
—
The NYC Prep School scene is thought to be glamorous, elite and exclusive, and while it can be all of those things, for a student of color at a prep school, the life of privilege often comes with a price and a sacrificial offering. As one of the very few African Americans at Riverdale Country School it is undeniably easy to lose a sense of authentic identity. Sometimes it’s easy to drift into a world so unparallel from my reality, I find myself isolated even though I am surrounded by people.
Riverdale was the only private school I applied to and when I was accepted, I had to decide between pursuing acting at LaGuardia High for the Performing Arts and pursing a more rigorous academic lifestyle at Riverdale. My family and I choose Riverdale because we felt that it could offer me a completely different experience from what I had in middle school and elementary school. And surely it did.
Even though my family and middle school instilled in me to be proud of who I am, I found myself sometimes questioning my identity. All the confidence instilled in me as a young child was constantly challenged by feelings of inadequacy, lack of confidence and lack of identity. There were times when I felt myself becoming Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. However, the way that I countered those feelings was that I became a proactive member of my school community as well as the global community. Through my numerous affiliations (from being a member of the NYC Jeter’s Leaders program, president of Black Student Alliance, intern for Resources in Independent School Education, mentoring and more) I began creating support systems for other “Prep School Negros” and even minority children who are not in a prep school environment but can still use the help.
The trials and tribulations (both emotional and psychological) of a Prep School Negro are inevitable. As I leave Riverdale, I want to continue to spread the message that we as minorities in independent schools do not have to sacrifice our identities, but rather we can enhance ourselves and help others struggling along the way. As I aspire to venture off to college and eventually the corporate world, I will always work hard to improve social conditions in independent schools.
- Emani McKnight
