Community News Alexandria Virginia

11-Year Old Alexandria Student Naomi Wadler is Guest on Ellen

Bubbling Over with Energy, Sharing Her Viral Rise

ALEXANDRIA.VA–On Tuesday, March 3, 2018, Alexandria media sensation, gun safety activist, Naomi Wadler, walked across the stage and sat down with Ellen Degeneres.

Articulate and fully of energy, Wadler recounted how her rise to fame has happened since her mother, Julie Wadler, told her about a friend’s daughter who was killed in the Parkland, Florida school shooting, and how she wound up talking to Hollywood giant George Clooney and speaking in front of the world.

Young Gun Control Activist Naomi Wadler Visits Ellen

Wadler started to capture attention when she and fellow George Mason Elementary School student, Carter Anderson, staged an 18-minute walkout on March 14th to honor the 17 students killed in Parkland, Florida. They added one minute to recognize Courtlin Arrington, a 17-year old African American teenager killed in an Alabama school shooting three weeks after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School incident.

Then she got a call from the March for Our Lives organizers asking if she would speak for a few minutes at the podium in Washington, D.C.  She did, and she went viral.

Naomi resonated with an international audience when she declared, “I represent the African-American women who are victims of gun violence, who are simply statistics instead of vibrant, beautiful girls full of potential. For far too long, these black girls and women have been just numbers. I am here to say never again for those girls too.”

Wadler appeared on The Ellen Degeneres Show Wednesday, April 4, 2018.

Mary Wadland

Mary Wadland is the Publisher and Editor in Chief of The Zebra Press, the award-winning Alexandria news publication she founded in 2010 with a mission of celebrating community, culture, and all the good news happening across the city. A longtime community advocate and storyteller, Mary was selected for the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce inaugural 40 Under 40 class and has served as President of Living Legends of Alexandria since 2022. Known for her deep local roots, sharp editorial instincts, and passion for connecting people through journalism, she has spent decades chronicling the personalities, businesses, events, and civic life that make Alexandria unique. Originally from Delray Beach, Florida, Mary is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Hollins College in Roanoke, Virginia, and has been part of Alexandria’s publishing and media community since 1987.

Related Articles

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Back to top button
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x