Oberlin Scholar, Mellon Mays Fellow Elected Class President

Oberlin College Scholar Aliyah Abu-Hazeem, currently a junior double majoring in law & society and sociology, is flourishing as a leader. This year alone she held a congressional internship with Senator Sherrod Brown, was elected president of the Class of 2017 in the spring, and spent the summer conducting research as a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow.

On campus, Aliyah is a lead resident assistant, co-chair of a discussion-based group for black women at Oberlin, and a member of the Oberlin Law Scholars Program, “a unique, selective, year-long program designed to build scholarship and experience for students interested in law.” Aliyah credits Posse with empowerming her to be successful on and off campus.

“My own experience, in large part, is so different from that of many students on campus at Oberlin,” says Aliyah. “With Posse, I feel that I am able to voice my opinions and share these parts of myself because Posse makes it a point of encouraging us to do so.”

Last summer, through the Posse Career Program, Aliyah interned with the Exoneration Project, a national pro bono legal clinic at the University of Chicago Law School. Growing up in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago, Aliyah witnessed many acts of violence in her community, which has motivated her to pursue both law school and a doctorate in sociology, with a focus on urban crime and prevention, upon graduation.