Tri-Cities student revives Black Student Union — and earns national race-relations prize

A Richland High School senior has won a prestigious recognition from Princeton University for her work reviving the school’s Black Student Union and advocating for her peers.

Abigail Koech is a 2025 winner of the Princeton Prize in Race Relations, which recognizes and rewards high school students who undertake significant efforts to advance racial equity and understanding in their schools or communities.

She and more than a two dozen other high schoolers from around the country have each earned $2,500 and will get a trip in April to the university’s Symposium on Race.

“I feel like this award is really a reflection of the people who worked beside me to start this thing. I wouldn’t say it’s just for me, because honestly it’s a win for everyone,” the aspiring attorney told the Tri-City Herald.

Along with fellow students Micah Fitzgerald, Carla Asiedu-Ofei and others, Koech restarted the organization last school year after nearly a decade of its inactivity.

Koech, 17, says it’s an important space for her peers and fellow students of color to have to share their struggles, successes, opportunities, experiences and diverse cultures.

It’s a dialogue they’ve opened not just to students, but to high school staff and teachers, as well.

Her application for the Princeton prize also highlights her work on the Richland School Board as its senior student representative.

She and junior student representative Tiffany Qian represent the interests and views of the district’s more than 4,600 high school students.

“Being on the board, I was put in a position where I could talk about things that affected kids of color, and I could really advocate for them,” she said. “One of my main focuses is just making sure everyone feels like they are in a place where they belong.“

Being a young Black student in the Tri-Cities can be isolating, she said. Only one other girl in elementary school looked like her, and in middle school she often found herself the only Black student in advanced classes.

Only 30 students at Richland High School are Black, or less than 2% of the student population.

“We go to school in a predominantly white community and that can be really rough. During my childhood, going through public schools here, I felt like I was alone in everything,” Koech said.

But she leaned into friends, role models, her parents and school staff who believed in her to find her passions and a drive to advocate for those who have less.

Aspiring Tri-Cities attorney

Koech is the first Bomber to win the prize, and possibly the first in the Tri-Cities.

An awards ceremony with regional Princeton alumni is planned at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 10, in Seattle to recognize her accomplishment.

Richland High School Principal Nicole Anderson said she’s proud of Koech and the positive influence she’s had in their school. She’s always brainstorming ideas, and Anderson appreciates her convictions.

“Abby never ceases to amaze me,” Anderson said. “She says that she’s grown and her confidence has grown and improved over the years.... But I would have never known she wasn’t a confident young lady.”

Koech cites civil rights icons Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks as well as other female trailblazers as inspirations, but she doesn’t shy away from the “hustle and hard work” her parents inspired in her from a young age.

Her father, Phillip Koech, works as a senior organic chemist researcher at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

“For a while, I was thinking I wanted to be a scientist — and then I was humbled by AP biology and I realized that wasn’t going to be my thing,” she said.

Instead, she found a passion for government, political science and history.

Her parents are originally from Eldoret, Kenya. The “city of champions,” situated nearly 7,000 feet above sea level in the Great Rift Valley, is home to world class athletes and runners.

As a result, running, biking and hiking are treasured activities for the family. They’re regulars at local marathons, 5k and 10k races, she said.

But she set athletic aspirations to the side once she got involved in leadership classes, Key Club, National Honor Society and community volunteering.

“I never really believed in myself until I was put into those leadership classes. That’s where I grew a lot more,” she said.

Koech found out about the Princeton Prize in Race Relations while searching for scholarships, and was drawn to the stories and subjects studied by previous winners.

She’s been admitted into University of Washington and Washington State University, but is waiting to hear back from other universities — including Princeton, Columbia, Georgetown and Stanford — before making a college decision in the coming weeks.

The Richland senior plans to study political science before applying to law school. She currently interns at Anderson Law, the Kennewick personal injury practice, where she organizes online files, makes information requests and answers phones.

In her spare time, Koech enjoys crocheting, baking and cooking. She also enjoys watching law dramas, including “The Good Wife,” “Law and Order” and “How to Get Away With Murder.”

This story was originally published March 20, 2025 at 5:00 AM.