Davona Johnson ‘17 collaborates with city mayor, advocates for local youth

By Jabari Ferrell ‘17

Staff Writer

One of our very own students, Davona Johnson, strived for and now holds the position of the Youth Mayor of Washington, DC.  Davona Johnson is a senior here at Bishop McNamara in our graduating Class of 2017.  She is involved in many different clubs and activities. She hopes to soon obtain a career in African American Studies.

Davona is involved in the Youth Government of the District of the Columbia and she has been part of the program since 2015. The duties of being Youth Mayor of the District of Columbia are to represent the youth of Washington DC. She reaches out to them by doing community services projects and activities around the city, asking them what their concerns are and making an initiative to take action.

In order to make things work, Davona has developed a schedule to keep her on task.

“I first do all of my school work because education is key,” she said. “And everything else then follows.” She prioritizes and gets things done promptly, and with all her hard work behind it, it is organized and informational.

She has meetings every Monday and Tuesday as the youth mayor of DC and very seldom throughout the rest of the week. The only other days that she holds meetings are on the days where she has to speak on behalf of the youth of Washington, DC in front of higher authorities.

Davona has a plan in action to get kids in Washington, DC to achieve great success like herself. She works hand and hand with mayor Muriel Bowser and together they set out to make DC stronger than what it already is today. Her plan is to make changes in the city through not only education, but also more after school programs.

Davona would like for education to be equal through every part of the District of Columbia including some students from Bishop McNamara. She feels that it does not matter if the school is private or public, education still should remain equal.

Her hope is to bring back the arts into the schools and let them be once again recognized so that children can express themselves differently, and give the youth an exposure to these necessities of expressing themselves and becoming successful. She also would like to do more outreach in the communities between students and law enforcement.

Davona said, “Trust needs to bring back into the communities because at the end of the day all we have is each other.” Davona is a strong, devoted young woman who cares a lot about her city and the people around her community.

She has committed to this position and she will do her best to fulfill her duties. Davona says that everything will be done through her strength in God.