A South Carolina teen has made history at her private high school after her classmates crowned her the school’s first Black homecoming queen.
Amber Wilsondebriano, 17, is a senior at Porter-Gaud School in Charleston and co-founder of the school’s Black Excellence Society.
The 155-year-old Episcopal school has held homecoming elections for more than 30 years, according to Cathi Hilpert, the school’s director of strategic communications, adding Wilsondebriano is the first Black queen to be elected.
“When they said my name, I felt so much joy, relief and honor because I knew that representation matters,” Wilsondebriano told CNN.
“I knew that being able to show up as a role model would inspire so many young children, and I’m so proud I get the title of the first Black homecoming queen.”
Porter-Gaud teaches students from grades 1-12 and Wilsondebriano stressed the importance of being a good role model for her younger peers. According to Hilpert, the high school has only admitted women for the last 50 years of its existence.
“I hope that young girls and young children can look up to me and hope anything is possible,” she said.
In a statement shared with CNN, DuBose Egleston, Head of School at Porter-Gaud, said the homecoming court is composed of “individuals who demonstrate strong character and leadership … and make impactful contributions to the school.”
“Amber exemplifies all of these characteristics and is a wonderful example of a student who lives out our school mission each day by inspiring others to pursue lives of purpose, learning and service,” he said.
“We celebrate (her) election as she joins the many noteworthy homecoming queens we’ve had since our school became co-educational in 1972.”
Wilsondebriano said she has felt supported by her school throughout her entire education career – not just her coronation.
“I’ve been at Porter-Gaud for 12 years and I have loved every minute of it,” she said.
As co-founder of the Black Excellence Society, Wilsondebriano helps facilitate connections between the younger and older grades. She is the co-leader of her school’s Chinese club and enjoys modeling, acting and illustrating children’s books.
She also founded and co-leads the Porter-Gaud art club.
“I felt like the students needed a place to show their creativity without judgment outside of class,” she said.
Wilsondebriano was born in New York and raised in South Carolina. Her father, Chevalo, noted there were only a few other Black students at her school.
“Her class voted for her and many of them don’t look like her … it is almost tearful to know that this was Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream, to have an environment where you can be judged not by the color of your skin, but for the content of your character.”
Her mother, Monique, said she was initially nervous when her daughter won.
“I thought maybe some people may be upset … but that was not the case. Everyone, all her friends were so happy, supportive. People were crying,” she said.
Amber said she had no idea she would be nominated to be a part of the homecoming court and takes pride in her historic coronation.
“Children of all ethnicities came up to me and wanted to take a picture of me – and felt that this was something they wanted to do too – and I felt so proud that I can inspire them to dream,” she said.
She is planning to attend Savannah College of Art and Design to study painting next year.
