She was “worried” she might be grouped in with whites for the first time in her life.
posted November 23, 2007
Ellie Gunderson (pictured right) was in the minority at the schools she attended in Southfield, but that’s not the case at predominately white Georgetown University.
Still, she’s different. Gunderson, a 19-year-old sophomore who graduated at the top of her class in 2005 from Southfield-Lathrup High School, is at the center of discussions about race and equality at the Jesuit campus just a few miles from the nation’s nexus of power. Last year, she was elected president of the university’s NAACP chapter.
That makes her one of a handful of white people to head a local unit of the civil rights organization.
“People definitely make a big deal about it,” she said.
If that’s not surprising, neither is the fact that Gunderson, while attending schools in Southfield, developed a passion for social justice so strong that she refers to it as a “calling.”
She is well-known in Southfield for her accomplishments. Ken Siver, the deputy superintendent in the Southfield school district, remembered her as a high-achieving student with a near-perfect grade point average who took on many extracurricular duties. Among other things, she was the student representative to the school board.
“She just had a natural ease with people,” he said. “She’s outgoing. She has a good sense of humor,” he said. “She’s just very engaging.”
Before going to Georgetown, Gunderson was worried she might be grouped in with whites for the first time in her life. So when she got there, she began attending meetings with minority groups. Gunderson became active with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and decided at the end of her freshman year to run for president after making herself known as someone who wasn’t afraid to throw out new ideas.
She was surprised to win, even though there are a handful of white students among the 30 or so in the group.
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