SM North sophomore Hananeel Morinville has been awarded a Princeton Prize in Race Relations.

Morinville, who serves as the president of the Black Student Union, applied for the award on the recommendation of English teacher and Black Student Union sponsor Natalie Johnson-Berry.

“Actually, Dr. Higgins sent it to me,” Johnson-Berry said. “Periodically, they’ll send a little thing saying, ‘Is anyone interested?’ and instead of ignoring it I actually tried to find someone who would be a good match for the award.”

She immediately thought of Morinville, who has put extensive work into the Black Student Union and Harmony Club.

“Hana came to mind because she’s the president of BSU (Black Student Union),” Johnson-Berry said. “Hana was the one who came to mind because she’s always taking things on and looking for new ways to promote leadership.”

Morinville then began the process of applying for the prestigious award.

“There was four written short answer questions I had to answer and then I had to specifically tell parts of what I’m doing to improve race relations,” Morinville said.

One of the focal points of her application was her tenacity in creating the Black Student Union last year.

“I talked about the adversity that I faced when starting the Black Student Union,” she said. “It was denied by administration at first, so I made sure to include that and how I was persistent in making sure it happened.”

Johnson-Berry suspected that Morinville might have made it into the list of top candidates when she received an email from a member of the selection committee March 18.

“I knew that maybe we were moving in the right direction because they contacted me Monday of last week by email,” Johnson-Berry said. “It was asking for more information about her involvement in school, so I started working on some things. I thought she had to be in the running for it or they wouldn’t be asking for more information.”

That suspicion was confirmed March 22, when Morinville was notified she was one of the prize recipients.

“I was in English listening to some book talks and I got a call and I was like ‘I can’t answer this, I’m in class.’ So when lunch comes I call them back, and they were like ‘I’m calling to let you know that you have won,’” Morinville said.

As one of 26 winners selected from thousands of applications across the U.S., Morinville will receive $1,000 and an all-expense-paid trip to Princeton University this summer for a conference on race relations.

“I was really glad,” Johnson-Berry said. “She wants to go to an Ivy League school, so she’ll get to meet similar minded people.”

To Morinville, her story serves as a reminder of the importance of perseverance.

“I think my takeaway message and my advice to others is you cannot be silent in the face of adversity,” Morinville said. “You can’t let things overcome you if you’re doing something and you’re doing it for the right reason.”