Rasia Khepra

Another example of civic leadership is RaSia Khepra. RaSia Khepra, now in his 20s, was born to public health and sociology professor Dr. Lance Khepra and hair stylist and jewelry designer Kandase Khepra along with three sister and two brothers. Similar to Mother Theresa, at a young age RaSia knew he wanted to become a global leader. RaSia works hard, he is a principal scholar, honor roll student, and active athlete. Also, RaSia used to be homeschooled as a child where he and his family travelled to Ghana for thirty days to give them more of an understanding of world history. During the trip RaSia was six or seven, he recalled visiting the coast where slave traders would imprison the slaves before shipping them, this reminded him of the hardship his ancestors went through. Africa also surprised him by the many different things there, RaSia stated that America made it seem as if Africa was a third world continent with no buildings, hotels, or even a McDonald’s (Jaguar Journal). The death of RaSia’s close friend, Hadiya Pendleton, motivated him to address the violence plaguing the city of Chicago. Hadiya was killed by a gunman in Chicago a week after she preformed at Barack Obama’s inauguration. For this reason, RaSia and other Chicago teenagers created Project Orange
Similar to Malala, RaSia also brings awareness about the community he lives in by creating an organization that shines a light on gun violence in Chicago and discussion to help prevent it. He also takes the the loss of someone important to him and manifests it to something positive for those also affected by gun violence. RaSia is a prime role model of service as he gives back to his community and spreads awareness of the growing issue. RaSia influences me to learn more about the community I am in and see the problems surrounding it and motivate me to come up with solutions for