Naeemah Ali is a graduate from DeKalb School of the Arts class of 2014. She currently attends Spelman College majoring in Biology on a pre-med track to becoming a pediatrician. Naeemah is involved in numerous organization on campus such as the Health Careers Program, Community Leadership Council, SKIRTS (a community service based organization), and has recently entered into the pageant realm. Naeemah continues to strive towards a more sustainable world and has recently joined the Sustainable Spelman organization that focuses on making her campus more eco-friendly.

My name is Naeemah Ali and I graduated from DeKalb School of the Arts in May 2014. I initially became involved with ACE through the Atlanta Program Manager, Amber Nave. She came to our school and energetically presented the ACE Assembly on climate change, solutions, and ways that students could get involved. It pumped me up and showed me that I had the power and the knowledge to make a difference that could positively affect generations to come. After her presentation, I began attending ACE leadership workshops that focused on creating music and multimedia content to spread awareness about the global crisis of climate change. Additionally, traveling with ACE to the National Power Shift Conference in 2013 as a youth media team member inspired me to continue to fight for climate solutions.

I just completed my first year at Spelman College majoring in Biology on a pre-med track to becoming a pediatrician. I recently finished a week-long environmental session at Spelman that focused on sustainability and climate change. During the session we focused on alternative methods and measures that Spelman and other colleges could take in an effort to becoming more climate-friendly. Once we completed the seminar we were allowed to apply for an internship. If selected I would become a representative responsible for organizing sustainability events on campus, working with other interns, and creating a plan to inspire students on campus to take climate action. As I grow older I will always remember my work with ACE. I’ll remain an advocate for shifting away from fossil fuels and I will stay engaged in pushing for solutions that help benefit the world we live in. While at Spelman, I hope to return to the next Power Shift conference and reconvene with those like myself who want our voices heard in making a difference in our world.