National Leadership Council

The National Leadership Council is a select group of students and recent alumni who provide insight, guidance, and support to the national Secular Student Alliance.

Chukwunonso Okoro

(he/him)

East Tennessee State University

Biography

Chukwunonso Okoro is a cloud architect and machine learning engineer currently pursuing his masters in the department of computing at East Tennessee State University.

Chukwunonso is a brilliant young man and a social justice activist. Back home in Nigeria, he is a loud voice on social media etc against the oppression of minority groups in his home country - Nigeria. Growing up in Nigeria, he has seen first hand how dangerous religion is and has mentally enslaved millions of people. 'I remember asking questions about so many things as a child, because they don't make any sense to me' he says.

Now living in the United States, his fight for social justice, love and rational thinking continues. He is currently the president of the SSA chapter at ETSU and is determined to expunge extremism, promote secular values, build a welcoming community and defend the separation of church/religion and state across board.

In his free time, he enjoys travelling, reading a good book at the beach, listening to music and watching good films, partying/dancing, playing volleyball, sprinting and spending time with his loved ones.

Rachel Himelhoch

(she/her)

University of Michigan

Biography

Rachel Himelhoch is a Sophomore at the University of Michigan and is planning to major in Neuroscience. She is on the Pre-med track and hopes to become a Child Psychiatrist.

Rachel identifies as a Secular Humanistic Jew and has been attending The Congregation for Humanistic Judaism of Metro Detroit since she was 9. However, she was raised in a predominantly white, Christian city. Being different fueled her passion for a more diverse and inclusive society, leading her to join the Secular Student Alliance.

Rachel is currently working to re-start the University of Michigan’s SSA chapter in order to give secular, humanist, and allied students a place to build community and volunteer. Additionally, she would like the UMich SSA chapter to add to the UMich Interfaith Council, in order to help promote understanding and empathy between different groups.

Andrew Ladenheim

(he/him)

University of New Hampshire School of Law

Biography

River Gallagher

(fae/they)

Texas Woman's University

Biography

River Gallagher is an undergraduate student at Texas Woman's University, pursuing a degree in education for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing students. Fae intends to pursue graduate studies focusing on the intersection of education and justice movements.

In their cultic religious upbringing, River was always a questioner. Coming out as queer at 16 cemented their realization that religion did not have the answers they sought. As they have learned more about the world around them, River's commitment to justice and liberation has only grown.

River founded the Texas Woman's University chapter of the SSA to give humanist, atheist, and other nonreligious students a place to meet and organize with like-minded peers. Faer goal in the SSA is to ensure the chapter continues to grow and thrive after faer graduation.

Egan Neal

(she/her)

Texas Woman's University

Biography

Egan Neal is a Ph.D. candidate in Education, Leadership, and Organization at Texas Woman’s University. Egan is committed to continuous learning and refuses to remain ignorant when faced with concepts or ideas that may differ from previously held realizations. For instance, when presented with opposing views, Egan remains open to examining conceptualized ideas in a rationalistic manner. She has experienced a sense of hyper-religiosity and the counter.

Therefore, Egan understands that reforming fascist beliefs or ideologies takes considerable measures. She believes that self-repression due to a lack of knowledge, information, or education is a deceptive means of contentment. Egan also believes that preventing unduly economic hardship is a matter of concern. As a result of these beliefs, she advocates for lifelong learning and improving individual circumstances using methods such as education. Egan is inquisitively interested in other people, cultures and examining perceptual differences—for example, ways of thinking or seeing reality. She aspires to become her highest sense of self through actualization and is proud of her commitment to education.

Grant Williams

(he/him)

Harvard University

Biography

Originally from Arizona, Grant Williams grew up a proud member of the Mormon church. After arriving on Harvard campus, however, he began to feel increasingly incongruous with the religious doctrines he had spent two years preaching as a missionary, and, ultimately, found himself drawn toward humanism.

Now, as a junior on campus and the co-president of the Harvard Community of Humanists, Atheists, and Agnostics, Grant is particularly interested in growing a space on campus where students of all backgrounds, genders, sexualities, and degrees of religiosity feel comfortable discussing both the joys and difficulties of life without the certainty of God. As someone who had a pretty destabilizing faith transition, he feels strongly that all students deserve a “soft place to land” should their beliefs evolve in college.

When not working on statistics problem sets and economics research, Grant can be found hiking, listening to audiobooks, and reading up on politics.

Justin Darcey

(he/him)

University of Florida

Biography

Justin Darcey is a Computer Science student at the University of Florida. He is planning on pursuing graduate work in the intersection between Physics and Computer Science. Justin is from Florahome, Florida, a small town outside of Gainesville and was raised as a non-denominational Christian. Although he was a Christian, Justin was always a skeptic, challenging ideas and pushing for a better understanding of the world around him. After much denial, he found that he no longer had sufficient evidence to believe in a God and became an outspoken atheist.

In the years following his deconversion, Justin has committed himself to showing those in his community that people of differing beliefs can learn to accept one another. Justin considers himself a humanist and skeptic first and foremost. He wishes not to proselytize, but spread rationality and love for everyone.

While Justin was always a contributing activist, Neo-Nazi appearances and hate speech on campus, coupled with state legislation clearly aimed to propagate Conservative Christian ideals and attack minority groups, motivated Justin to pursue leadership. He decided to restart the SSA chapter at the University of Florida, and plans to collaborate with inclusive organizations to protect the rights of those under duress.

Get Involved!

Interested in becoming a Board Member or part of the National Leadership Council?

Email us at ssa@secularstudents.org for information regarding upcoming board vacancies.