Oloapu, Turner are ‘Agents of Change’

Oloapu, Turner are ‘Agents of Change’

2016 Award winners (Web)

Left: Anthony Turner & Roger Wesby. Right: Michala Williams & Gabby Oloapu.

On Tuesday, Feb. 23, Wagner College celebrated the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at its annual MLK Agent of Change Awards program. Two members of the college community were honored this year: Anthony Turner and Gabby Oloapu.

Anthony Turner is a professor of voice in the college’s Music Department, where he challenges his students to find their own story while developing their figurative and literal voices. He volunteers to support initiatives on campus involving students of color as well as the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, which the college hosts each summer. He is a valued member of his faith community off campus at St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery.

Gabby Oloapu is a psychology major from Auckland, New Zealand, who plays attack on our back-to-back conference championship water polo team. She served as the orientation coordinator for new student orientation and the coordinator for the L.E.A.D. minority mentorship program. She has worked in partnership with leaders in the Student Government Association and the Black Student Union to host a rally supporting student activism on campuses across the country, and she co-authored a Declaration of Change petition that highlights several issues students would like the administration at Wagner College to address, suggesting innovations meant to create a more welcoming and inclusive campus community.


Watch a video of the complete program on YouTube.