By Megan Wehring

After successfully coordinating a Black History Month program as a young teen, Vanessa Westbrook found her voice as a leader for marginalized communities — and she never looked back.

[pullquote]“I would never forget it,” Westbrook reminisced about her program decades later. “We would put on this special program for the community to come and partake in. Students would do various skits and activities, just a variety of things. I remember doing that in the 9th...