Kawthar Ali believes that every child deserves the best possible education. As a graduate student of the School of Education’s educational leadership program, her goal is to “fight for equal and excellent education for all students”.

Kawthar is off to a good start. She's a third grade teacher at Global Educational Excellence. In the past, she taught fourth grade, served as a substitute teacher and tutored in several local school districts, all while completing her master’s level coursework.  She was accepted into the Teach for America program beginning in fall 2011.

Throughout her graduate and undergraduate years, Kawthar has maintained a busy schedule as a volunteer on campus and in the community. She was a founding member of Volunteer Dearborn, the campus’s first civic engagement student organization, which ultimately grew into a university- staffed program in the office of student affairs. She represented UM-Dearborn in the first Alternative Spring Break in 2007 as one of six students who traveled to Lake Charles, La., to help rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Katrina. She also coordinated an after school program where she oversaw many students and staff at a Dearborn elementary school.

Kawthar’s ultimate goal is to work for the Department of Education “in order to implement some much needed changes to our current educational system.”

Says former classmate Rand Kazanji, “She has… the determination to make a difference in the world by pushing herself and others to not let anything stand in the way of solving a problem. Kawthar represents UM-Dearborn by her academic achievements, metropolitan focus and leadership.”

IN MY OWN WORDS

"My students drive me. I wake up every morning and go to work for my students. I want to see them succeed and attend a good university. On my most challenging days, my students remind me that they too deserve an equal and excellent education. After all, they are the future of our society."