Movers of Tomorrow: Leuphana student Alina Reize wins jury prize for commitment

Alina Reize is not easily fazed. The 22-year-old from Lüneburg has already spoken before the United Nations at the General Assembly in New York as a UN Youth Delegate. But even when her name was announced at the Movers of Tomorrow awards ceremony, she was overjoyed: she is one of the ten winners of the jury prize.

Alina Reize was honoured for her commitment to greater youth participation and climate justice. While still at school, she founded a local Fridays for Future group in her Bavarian hometown and organised demonstrations. After graduating from high school, she completed a voluntary ecological year with BUNDjugend. She later set up a local group in Lüneburg, was on the Lower Saxony state executive committee and is currently involved in the federal executive committee of BUNDjugend.

‘Volunteering is a privilege – not everyone can afford to invest their free time in it,’ she says. That makes her all the more delighted about the recognition and the prize money of €5,000: ‘It helps me to stay active.’ Alina Reize financed her studies at Leuphana University in Lüneburg with a scholarship from the Heinrich Böll Foundation, among other things. 

The Global Environmental and Sustainability Studies programme fits perfectly with her international perspective: ‘Climate change cannot be solved nationally. It requires global cooperation,’ she explains. But she is concerned with more than just environmental issues: ‘I want to show young people that their perspectives are important and that their voices should be heard. Half of the world's population is under 30 – but this is hardly reflected in parliaments.’ As a youth delegate to the UN, she was part of the official German delegation, but she did not speak for a country, but for the interests of young people in Germany. She is aware that young people have very different realities, opinions and priorities, which she cannot represent on her own. The student therefore went to schools and talked to young people: ‘What do you need and want for a good future?’ The answers ranged from world peace to gender equality and environmental protection to kebabs for 2.50€. 

She has found her place at Leuphana: ‘I'm in the right place.’ The university is one of the universities in Germany with a particularly large number of student initiatives. Other Leuphana students were also successful at Movers of Tomorrow – they received the audience award and celebrated their additional jury prize with Alina Reize. ‘The other participants were incredibly inspiring,’ she reports, adding: ‘But it takes more than awards. We also need space and support so that young people can get involved.’ At Leuphana, a large number of students are involved in initiatives. They can use rooms at the university free of charge for their events.

Incidentally, this was not Alina Reize's first award: in Bavaria, she had already been awarded the ‘Green Angel Junior’ by the Ministry of the Environment. For the coming year, she is planning a semester abroad in India – at a Leuphana partner university: ‘I want to learn more about non-Western perspectives on climate justice. Without these, international solutions remain incomplete and unjust.’