Summer 2013 intern at the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations – Onaje Crawford

I am Onaje Crawford, a senior at Princeton Theological Seminary who comes to the Presbyterian Church’s UN Office as a Field Education Intern. After graduating from The Taft School, a college-preparatory boarding school in Connecticut, and Boston University, where I a received a Bachelors of Science on Political Science, I returned to my hometown of Newark, NJ in 2004. Since returning home, I have served my community by working in education reform. From 2004 until 2007, I helped plan, open, and operate University Heights Charter School, an award-winning, K-8 school in Newark’s Central Ward.  In 2007, I began working with NJ LEEP, the New Jersey Law and Education Empowerment Project. NJ LEEP is a college prep program that introduces students to the study of the law to help them gain admissions to and graduate from the nation’s best colleges and universities. Upon returning home in 2004, I also began preaching at my childhood church, Bethany Baptist Church in Newark, and last July, I was licensed as a minister and pastoral assistant. I am also a newlywed as, in September 2012, my wife, Tahirah, and I were married. Through this field education placement, I hope to learn more about global affairs and and the role the church plays in bringing conflicts to peaceful resolution. Also, by gaining a broader perspective on how the Holy Spirit is moving throughout the world, I hope to gain direction and insight into the future of my ministry and service to God and humanity.