Karen Zhang is a senior at William G. Enloe High School in Raleigh, North Carolina. Although she was born in Texas, her family moved over to the Triangle region of North Carolina before her first birthday, so she considers herself a North Carolinian.

Karen enjoys creating both traditional and digital art, and also plays the piano. Her academic extracurriculars are science-based and include Science Olympiad, Science Bowl, and Envirothon. From these extracurricular activities, she has developed an interest in earth and environmental science.

Through both her classes and extracurriculars, Karen has come to understand the basics of environmental issues. Climate change sticks out to her because it stems from many variables, such as overuse of fossil fuels and industrial farming. Ignoring these variables would harm human health and also lead to irreversible ecological effects, leaving later generations with a worse planet.

However, simply understanding issues does not equate to fixing the issues. She sees the ACE Action Fellowship as a perfect opportunity to learn how to take action against climate change. Since environmental issues are not just about science, participating in the Fellowship allows her to learn in-depth about social and political factors related to climate change. She hopes that by end of the program, she will have a much better understanding about how to solve climate change and other environmental problems.