Sei is an officer in the Yale Black Men’s Union, a peer liaison at the African American Cultural Center, and a leader on the Yale Bulldogs for Change (YBC), Cultural Center Connection Committee.
“Juma’s involvement in the community comes from a true sense of caring and devotion to service. He is not merely “building a resume” with all that he does. I am confident that his service won’t end once he has graduated. He is an incredible man with a bright future in front of him,” said Shoehalter.
Sei takes part in New Haven’s Jane Matilda Bolin Program as a communications director where he coordinates weekly three-hour African Studies seminar for approximately 15 high school students by organizing logistics and teaching of a self-curated curriculum.
Additionally, he works as a tutor and mentor at the Urban Improvement Corps (UIC) and co-directs and teaches a weekly one-hour creative writing seminar for middle and high school students. It is a curriculum he designed himself, based on each student’s demonstrated need.
Finally, he served as a remote meeting host for the Yale Education Tutoring Initiative (YETI) with weekly one-hour study halls for middle and high school students to maintain academic support during the spring of 2020 transition to online learning. He has facilitated 10-plus pairings of New Haven youth with Yale College students in Zoom tutoring sessions.
JUMA SEI
While Sei has won numerous races in his time at Yale, captaining the men’s track & field team on a nationally competitive level, his participation in community service projects was always a top priority, including serving as a Fro-Co in Ezra Stiles College.
“He even expressed that interest during the recruiting process, and his decision to attend Yale was influenced in large part by the opportunity to participate in uplifting the New Haven community,” said David Shoehalter, Mark T. Young ’68 Director of Cross Country and Track & Field. “He has not only participated in community service programs but has held leadership positions in those organizations and has taken the time to curate his own curriculums for each of the groups. It should be stressed that Juma’s involvement in the community isn’t limited to New Haven. He holds numerous positions at the university devoted to the Black experience at Yale.”