About Me

An Asian woman with long brown hair standing in front of two trees. She is wearing a black blouse with flowers on in and black dress pants. She has her right hand on her hip and her left hand at her side.

Hi! My name is Grace Zhang, my pronouns are she/her, and I am from Moreland Hills, OH. I am a second-year undergraduate Eminence Fellow pursuing a personalized major in Climate Justice Studies. I am interested in studying both the scientific and social aspects of the climate crisis, as well as other related fields such as political economy, geography, women, gender, and sexuality studies, and East Asian studies to understand the systems that have caused and continue to contribute to climate change, how the crisis threatens and marginalizes communities, and how to organize and build power to prevent the destruction of our planet. I hope to use my degree not only to learn how to build a more just and equitable world, but also use it to support organizing efforts and social movements in my community and around the world to combat climate change.

At Ohio State, I am involved with the Undergraduate Student Government, where I serve on the Justice and Equity committee, Sunrise Movement, and Ohio Youth for Climate Justice, as well various mutual aid groups and community coalitions. I am also currently working on an independent research project with Professor Joel Wainwright on climate politics in China and the potential to build a widespread, environmental movement there. I am particularly passionate about grassroots organizing and involved with many community initiatives to fight for things like transit justice, the end of police brutality, and divestment from fossil fuels.

After I graduate, I hope to pursue a PhD in geography or environmental studies and go into academia where I hope to continue my research on climate justice in East Asia and teach students about the importance of addressing the climate crisis, as well to continue community organizing and mutual aid work outside of my job.

Outside of my academic and campus involvements, I also enjoy a variety of creative pursuits, such as art, music, writing, and fashion and love traveling with friends to explore the local art, food, and culture or various cities and places. I also love animals and nature, especially birds and am currently teaching myself to birdwatch.

Feel free to reach out to zhang.12309@osu.edu if you ever want to talk! 🙂

Year in Review – Freshman Year

Reflecting on who I was in the beginning of my freshman year and who I am now, I’ve realized that there are a whole lot of things about me that have changed in ways that I could have never expected. When I first came to OSU I was so sure that knew what I wanted to do at college and for the rest of my life. I was convinced I wanted to pursue a career in law and politics and as a result I was double majoring in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics and Sociology and was also on the Pre-Law track. My plan in college was to study really hard, join some clubs for activism, and secure some government and non-profit internships and I was set. I would go to law school and then take it from there. But, a month into college I realized that things weren’t going as well as I thought they would. The classes I was super excited for were not as interesting as I thought they would be and I couldn’t find any student organizations I was really passionate about. Day-to-day I felt like I wasn’t doing anything meaningful and I was constantly feeling like I was missing out or not doing enough. However, instead of questioning the plan I had set out for myself, I just thought I needed to try harder and told myself it was because I was still a freshman.

One day, when I was in my freshman seminar for the Honors program and we were working on our 4 year plans for courses, I suddenly had to confront the reality of my situation. I didn’t like my major and I didn’t actually want to go to law school or pursue a career in politics. When looking at the courses I needed to take, I realized that they weren’t teaching me what I really wanted to learn and I felt like they weren’t really giving me the tools to do what I was really passionate about, advocating for marginalized communities. I kept looking elsewhere to other departments like Geography, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and History to find what I really wanted to learn, which left me feeling even more lost than I did before.

Even then, I couldn’t convince my stubborn self to change my plans. I was so committed to making it work because I scared of doing anything else. This had been what I wanted to do for all of high school and I was sure that I was capable of pursuing something different. But then a friend asked me to take a course called Making of the Modern World in the Geography department with them and I agreed, curious to see what it would be like and it was so much better than I could have ever expected. I loved going to class and hearing what my professor, Dr. Wainwright, lecture about topics like the formation of capitalism and the political economy of modern China. I had finally found what I was interested in and it wasn’t where I thought it would be.

I also started exploring avenues of activism that I hadn’t explored before. Instead of volunteering for political campaigns and non-profits like I did before, I joined mutual aid groups and community organizations that were doing grassroots work that I found much more inspiring and meaningful than anything I had done before. I became especially passionate about the climate crisis after spending a lot of time with Sunrise Columbus and Ohio Youth for Climate Justice and decided it was what I wanted to dedicated my academic work to as well.

At the end of second semester my freshman year, I made the scary decision to formally commit to changing my major and career goals and it has been one of the best choices I have made. I am now working with Dr. Wainwright to create my own major and conduct my own research project on climate politics with China. I am also extremely involved with the community organizations I mentioned before, especially Ohio Youth for Climate Justice, which I am on the strategy team for now. Lastly, I decided that I would like go to graduate school and go into academic instead because I love research and learning and I’m super excited for what the future and this new path holds!