Wisdom Amouzou
Principal of Empower Community High School Aurora, CO Award Year: 2020Wisdom Amouzou serves as Principal of Empower Community High School, an innovative school that is led by students, guided by educators, and co-created with the community that co-founded it. Empower is known for its unique curriculum where students take four years of ethnic studies courses with built-in time to work on projects that benefit their community. Prior to his role with Empower, Wisdom worked as a Diversity and Equity Fellow with RISE-Colorado to design equity workshops for students, families, and educators. He is a 2017 Camelback Ventures Fellow and winner of the 2017 Teach For America Social Innovation Award. His goal is to infuse an African spirit and ethic of love in all he does. He is an alumni of The University of Colorado-Boulder and a former mentor in the CU Boulder Public Achievement program.
Wisdom used his BVBJ award to launch the EmpowerX Strategy at Empower Community High School. EmpowerX is codifying Empower’s most effective student-led programs into a suite of special opportunities and programs that can reach part-time students who are not able to enroll at Empower full-time. This includes Flight Club (STEM through drone racing), the Hustle Collective ($150 given to students to explore any passion), F.L.O.W. (social entrepreneurship) and Loving Is For Everyone (learning how to nurture and sustain healthy relationships).
In an interview with The 74, Wisdom discussed his vision as well as educational leadership in Colorado. In tEd Talk for the University of Colorado-Boulder, he discussed how Empower High School provides an education that teaches students to lead like artists.