Our CORE Members
“The controlling body of the Philly Black Students Alliance will be the PBSA Core. Core Members are required to govern the Alliance in its anti-racist efforts. Those within the 2020 Core shall be decided by the Alliance’s initial organizers and founding members, with elections to staff these positions in the later years.” (PBSA Constitution Section III).
2023-2024 Core Members
Rebecca Allen, Chairperson
Rebecca Allen is a recent graduate of Central High School. She is a co-founder of U.N.H.E.A.R.D. (Uprooting Negligence by Habituating Equity and Anti-racism through Real Discussion) at Central High School. She also plays in the school band and volunteers at her church’s local food pantry giving bags of food to members of the community. She enjoys being creative through art and music. You can always find her expressing herself in various ways. As the Alliance Chairperson of PBSA, she contributes to discussing and pursuing acts of advocacy for Black students and people in Philadelphia.
Kerla Milius, Outreach Coordinator
Kerla Milius is currently a senior at Northeast High School, and Outreach Coordinator in the PBSA. At school, she takes part in varying clubs from being a Secretary in the Black Student Association and fellow member of her student council. She also dabbles in music from playing a cello to singing, not only that she is a part of the Students Run Philly Style where she goes on runs and meets new people in the community. As the Outreach Coordinator, she helps come up with new ways to reach out and engage with the community, striving to execute outreach events.
“The Philly Black Students Alliance shall be guided by Non-Student Representatives. Understanding the alliance is intended to be student-led, we seek the guidance of select Non-Student representatives” (PBSA Constitution Section III).
2020-2021 Non-Student Representatives (NSRs)
Keziah Ridgeway, M.Ed
Keziah Ridgeway is an activist, educator, mother and a wife born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Keziah attended Philadelphia public schools like Conwell Middle Magnet and Philadelphia High School for Girl’s. She graduated with a Bachelor's degree in History from Temple University and a Master's degree in Secondary Education from Saint Joseph's University. She also serves as a sponsor of the Black Students’ Association and the Muslim Students’ Association at Northeast High School. Keziah is also one of the founding members of Melanated Educators Collective and a member of the Racial Justice Organizing Committee. She serves as a member of her Building Committee and recently was selected as a Lindback Teacher Award Winner.
Elizabeth Wesley, M.Ed
Elizabeth Williams Wesley is a 15-year veteran social studies teacher in the School District of Philadelphia. At Central High School she teaches primarily African American History, and an AP Seminar course with African Diaspora content while sponsoring the Black Youth Coalition and coaching Girls Varsity Basketball. She values building meaningful relationships with students and colleagues and engaging in social justice work for radical change with local grassroots organizations such as Melanated Educators Collective, Racial Justice Organizing Committee, Philly Hub for Liberatory Academics, and BARWE. She also recruits for Three Female Ballers, a non-profit organization that takes female scholar-athletes who play basketball to Africa to teach a weeklong basketball camp and sightsee, as well as take part in cultural exchange with African teenaged girls. She is an activist, Pan-Africanist, leader, educator, mentor, student, mother, wife, sister, daughter, world traveler, and basketball coach.
Hannah Gann
Bio Coming Soon…
2020-2021 Core Members
Brandon Archer, Chairperson
A Philadelphia native, Brandon has been devoted to civic engagement and community organizing for Black students city-wide. His efforts have led to the formation of several corporately-sponsored student unions and being hired as UrbEd Inc.’s Communications Director. Out of the district, he coordinates volunteer teams and donations at a Women’s shelter, and serves as a field organizer for a Pennsylvania political party, leading statewide initiatives that register hundreds to vote and participate in elections.
Sheyla Street, Chairperson
Bio Coming Soon…
Tatyana Roldan, Chairperson
Bio Coming Soon…