Anisa Daniel-Oniko

My name is Anisa Daniel-Oniko, I am sixteen years old, and I am a senior at Enlightium Academy, an online K-12 private school.
I’m graduating in June of 2023. My GPA is a 4.0, and I am working hard to graduate with the same. I have been a member of the National Honor Society for two years, and I have been the President of the Student Council of Enlightium Academy for one year.
Prior to my presidency, I held the position of Vice President for a year as well. As a member of the Student Council, I have organized events (such as our annual food-drive and our winter variety show), as well as worked actively to serve my school.

I am a writer, as well as UN child ambassador for the Sustainable Development Goals under the Voices of Future Generations - a UNESCO Initiative. I have been involved with said initiative since 2019, and I have spoken at VoFG Roundtables and Events on several occasions. I have also written articles for their VoFG Arabia imprint, and my profile on their website can be found here: http://www.vofg.org/anisa
My articles for their website can be found here:
“Representation Matters”
“Gender Equality”
“Yes, I am African. It does not end there.”

My first published work was written for a school anthology when I was eight, but I began my first book Double ‘A’ For Adventure when I was nine years old, finished it at ten, and published it at eleven. I wrote and published its sequel, Further in Florien, when I was thirteen. In 2019, Double ‘A’ For Adventure was long-listed for the NLNG Prize for Literature, which is the largest literature prize on the African continent. At twelve, I was the first and only child to make the long-list for the prize, which is traditionally for adults. Additionally, I received a Gold Award from The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay competition in the same year. I am currently working on my third novel, the bulk of which was completed during the NaNoWriMo challenge in 2022. I managed to “win” NaNoWriMo by writing over fifty thousand words in the span of thirty days, which is a feat only 10-15% of writers accomplish during the month-long challenge.

I enjoy volunteering and advocacy, and for three years I participated in a church program called Project F.E.E.D. which functions as a means to give free food, education and empowerment to those who cannot afford them. I am also fond of baking and cooking for members of my community.

In addition to this, I host free writing workshops for children who aspire to become writers.

I have been conscious of and passionate about the Sustainable Development Goals since I was quite young - even when I didnt yet know what they were called. Thus, at age eight, I founded a club devoted to nature-based activism called the Litterteam. Litterteam was a project initially developed to combat my school’s littering problem, and it was designed to teach students about what it really meant to go green. I presented our Powerpoint explaining our mission at assembly with other club members, and together we managed to implement environmentally conscious practices at our school and keep students involved and enthusiastic.

I have been privileged to serve various communities in various capacities from book drives to mentoring programs, literary events to food banks and I count meeting people from all walks of life, and learning from their stories as some of the achievements I hold most dear.