26th Annual Ubora Award: Benjamin Swan
The Honorable Benjamin Swan embodies a spectrum of attributes that more than qualify him for the receiving the honor of the Ubora Award, an award whose name in Swahili means “excellence.”
Ben Swan is the recipient of the 26th annual Ubora Award conferred by the African Hall Subcommittee of the Springfield Science Museum. He was nominated by Denise Jordan and Fred Allen Swan.
As a civil rights activist, Ben Swan was the Western Mass coordinator for the monumental 1963 March for Jobs and Freedom, and he is recognized as the preeminent leader of the 1960s civil rights movement in the City of Springfield, and he served as the president of the Greater Springfield branch of the NAACP. For twenty-four years, Swan offered exemplary service as State Representative for the 11th Hampden District, the City of Springfield, Western Massachusetts Region, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, retiring this past January. As a community leader, Swan helped launch a number of community-based organizations such as Northern Education Service and the former Springfield Action Commission. Swan provided moral, legislative, and financial leadership and support to the Springfield Schools, community-based organizations, minority veterans groups, substance abuse treatment, cultural festivals, the Springfield Arts Council, Springfield Technical Community College, and the UMass Downtown Center. As an artist and the creator of the long-standing “Black Love Experience” radio program, Swan provides community updates in educational and cultural activities and shares inspirational black classical music.
Swan graduated from the former Springfield Technical High School. He received his bachelor of arts degree from the Fashion Design Institute and his master in education from the University of Massachusetts. Swan completed advanced graduate work at UMass and received an honorary doctorate from Westfield State University. He has received many awards and recognitions including the 1990 “Eye on the Prize Award.”
A resident of Springfield for 67 years, at 83 years of age Swan continues to dedicate his life to good work. During a lecture to future teachers, Swan said, “Anything that is worth doing is worth doing well—excellence does not tolerate mediocrity.” Which sums up why Benjamin Swan is our 2017 Ubora Award winner.
8th Annual Ahadi Youth Award: A’Shaela Chaires
A’Shaela Chaires learned what “promise” means early on, while a student in the Springfield Public Schools. A refugee resettlement area, her Springfield classmates brought experience from all over the world—and they brought values that A’Shaela recognized and shared. She learned that people can learn from each other and that learning was a promise for something better than what we have now—“a political climate that is not very friendly to minorities.”
A’Shaela is the recipient of the 2017 Ahadi Youth Award, bestowed by the African Hall Subcommittee of the Springfield Science Museum. In Swahili “ahadi” means “promise.” The annual Ahadi Youth Award was established in 2009 to honor an African-American young adult who has excelled in school and in the greater community and who shows strong promise of continued excellence in the future. A’Shaela was nominated for the Ahadi Youth Award by her math teacher and advisor Monique L. Conroy of the Williston Northampton School.
A’Shaela was born in Springfield, where she lives with her mom, sister, and cousin. Recently they began fostering her sister’s three-year-old godchild. “We haven’t had a young one in the family for a while,” A’Shaela said, “That kind of energy keeps us all young!” With her grandparents in the duplex next door and her aunt and cousin down the street, A’Shaela has been nurtured by a close-knit family that values looking out for each other.
Maybe that support is what fuels A’Shaela’s fearlessness, a fearlessness that has helped her stand out as a leader who wants to make it clear that she values what people of all backgrounds can bring to a fuller understanding of the world. “I want to help people be who they are and be their best selves. I want people to be able to explore what their minds bring them to, knowing the backbone is here to support them if they need help.”
Encouraged by her elementary school principal to seek the academic rigors of Williston Northampton School where she is now in her senior year, A’Shaela has maintained a better than perfect grade point average while also participating in athletics, school-wide functions, and community activism. Her academic advisor and math teacher, Monique L. Conroy, says of A’Shaela, “She is open minded, independent, and mature and she handles the many demands on her life with poise and determination.”
A steadfast community activist, A’Shaela saw an opportunity at Williston to change the system by helping to reconstruct the Diversity and Inclusion department. In an effort to create a supportive and leadership-driven group for domestic and international students of color, A’Shaela and a classmate created the Multicultural Student Union. Last year, A’Shaela was chosen to attend the Student Diversity Leadership Conference and People of Color Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Using the skills she learned at this conference, she helped pioneer a school-wide community diversity event called “Why Not Speak Day” and created and ran her own workshop. A’Shaela regularly addresses the entire student body in assembly and encourages participation in the school’s Cultural Identity discussions. “I want to fight for voices that are not heard much,” she said. “And I want to show that minorities can be on the same playing field as everyone else.”
A’Shaela hopes to pursue a career in accounting because she likes math and business, and she plans to minor in political science “to keep up my activism,” she said. “I want to bring diversity to the table in the corporate world—I’m looking to change the ball game!”
Asked about winning the Ahadi Youth Award, A’Shaela said “I want to continue to change a climate that is not very favorable to people of color. The award affirms my hard work so far and my promise to keep up that hard work.”
Meantime, with a rigorous schedule loaded with Advance Placement classes as well as electives in math, history, and political science, A’Shaela is very excited about entering into her senior year, open to the possibilities, and “ready for the ride.”