Moorestown High student Angelo Boujaoude with Linda Blackburn, co-chair of the Central/Southern New Jersey Princeton Prize in Race Relations Selection Committee, at the awards on March 2.
Moorestown High School student Angelo Boujaoude was honored with the Princeton Prize in Race Relations Certificate of Accomplishment at Princeton University on March 2.
“Being recognized by Princeton University alongside other extraordinary students who are deeply committed to improving their communities is incredibly meaningful to me,” said Boujaoude, who received his award at the university’s Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding.
“The work recognized by this award was never about recognition itself, but was about building understanding and connection in my own community.”
The race relations prize was established by Princeton to honor high-school students who demonstrate exceptional leadership in advancing racial equity and fostering dialogue across differences in their schools and communities. Students are selected through a highly competitive application process that evaluates the scope, impact and sustainability of their work.
“Right now, conversations about race, culture and identity are often happening in ways that divide people rather than bring them together,” Boujaoude observed. “I believe the most powerful way to address that is by creating spaces where people can speak openly, listen to one another and learn from different perspectives.”
Boujaoude was recognized for founding the Moorestown Cultural Crossroads Club and organizing the first town-wide Cultural Crossroads Festival, an initiative that brings together students and community members from diverse backgrounds. He founded the club to create a student-led space where students can share experiences and learn from one another.
The club’s impact inspired Boujaoude to organize the festival, which has brought together more than 350 students, families, educators and community members representing 14 cultural groups, as well as local civic organizations like the Rotary and Lions clubs. The event enables communities to share their traditions, food, stories and experiences, transforming cultural identity from something observed at a distance into something understood through connection.
The initiative has since become an annual tradition at the high school; the second festival was held on March 12. The Cultural Crossroads Club continues its mission year-round through facilitated discussions and partnerships with cultural organizations.
“For me, this work began when I noticed something that felt like a contradiction in my own community,” Boujaoude recalled. “Our numerous cultural and ethnic groups were proud and vibrant, yet often isolated from one another. Students celebrated identity within their own spaces, but rarely encountered one another in ways that encouraged honest dialogue about race, religion, class and lived experience.
“I wanted to change that.”
The most meaningful part of Boujaoude’s work, he explained, is that students now attend one another’s cultural events independently, and conversations about identity and understanding are happening more openly throughout the school. Looking forward, Boujaoude believes that the most important lesson is that real change often begins with small, local actions.
“When people come together to listen to one another and share their experiences, understanding grows naturally,” he noted. “The future of race relations will not be written for us – it will be built by us, one community initiative at a time.”
