Student Highlight: Ngozi Alia

For our student highlight, we wanted to highlight the amazing work of Ngozi Alia, a graduating senior at FSU majoring in Health Science and minoring in African American Studies. Serving as the President of the campus chapter of the NAACP, Ngozi was also previously the President of FSU’s Student Health Advisory Committee from the fall of 2016-spring of 2019 as well as the Health Liaison of the NAACP from the fall of 2018-spring of 2019. Ngozi has also maintained membership in the Pre-Med Society as well as in AmeriCorps’ Conquering Opioid Abuse Together (COAT) program.

While balancing her time with her academics and co-curricular experiences, Ngozi has developed a very impressive list of professional experiences. She has had Internships with two different departments in the National Institute of Health. She also Interned with Johns Hopkins University’s Generation Tomorrow program and has served as a Camp Assistant Director with her church’s summer program.

In regard to creating and maintaining an inclusive community at FSU, Ngozi focuses on collaboration between student organizations to make sure everyone feels apart of the process. She always makes sure to reach out to students and student organizations when her organizations are working on something to help provide other students a platform. In regard to Ngozi’s vision for FSU going forward, she wants to see more representation and focus on marginalized groups in the STEM and Pre-Med field at the university to help provide students the support they need.

After FSU, Ngozi plans to take a gap year, stay in the DC area and focus on getting into medical school, more specifically she would like to get into the George Washington School of Medicine and focus on Epidemiology in her studies. From there, she would like to transition into a career with the World Health Organization or the Department of Health.

Ngozi’s hero is Michelle Obama and she lives her life by the following three quotes:

1) “I tell my students, 'When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else. This is not just a grab-bag candy game.” – Toni Morrison

2) “Success is not to be measured by the position someone has reached in life, but the obstacles he has overcome while trying to succeed.” – Booker T. Washington

3) “I act and react, and suddenly I wonder, 'Where is the girl that I was last year? Two years ago? What would she think of me now?” – Sylvia Plath