Be Remarkable: Meet Annika Lilja
I wouldn’t trade my Salem experience for anything. It became my home very quickly and was the place where I experienced immense growth.
Salem Academy alumna Annika Lilja, class of 2025, had her heart set on attending a boarding high school. She said she was specifically drawn to Salem Academy “because of the unique opportunity to take college courses while living on the same campus. It was also clear to me throughout the application process how close-knit the Salem community was. I knew Salem would help me grow as a person and a student, so when I was admitted and awarded the Sisters Merit Scholarship, it was an easy decision.”
As a young teenager, Annika founded a website, All Teen Politics. She said, “I already cared deeply about politics and struggled to find a way to get involved as I was so young. Looking around at my friends, I realized I could make an impact by explaining political issues in a way anyone, including teenagers, could understand. I decided to create a blog and eventually grew our organization so that we had a team of 15 students publishing articles by teens, for teens.” That entrepreneurial spirit carried into her time at Salem Academy, where she launched both the Youth and Government program and the Civic Engagement Club. “If there isn’t a program you want to see at Salem, staff will help you create/develop it,” she said of the support she received. Another opportunity Salem provided Annika was to attend a Face to Face event at Wake Forest University, where she heard Madeleine Albright speak, an experience she described as having “inspired me to pursue my interest in politics.” She went on to intern for Dean Phillip’s 2024 presidential campaign.
During the first semester of college, I would look around at my peers and notice how much better prepared I was to handle the workload because I was already familiar with the expectations. I find it very manageable because I already had the systems and habits in place from my time at Salem, which makes it much easier.
Annika is now a first-year student at Lehigh University. She was awarded the Soaring Together Merit Scholarship, which covers her full tuition, and is one of 15 students in her year in the Eckardt Honors Program. “I am at Lehigh and in these incredible programs because of Salem,” Annika said.
Her passion for politics has continued to grow; she is currently interning for Ryan Crosswell’s political campaign for Congress, serving as the Vice President of Outreach for the World Affairs Club at Lehigh University, and she is an active participant in College Democrats. During her first year in college, Annika has also been involved with Lehigh’s United Nations partnership, which has taken her to the UN headquarters and the German and Canadian missions.
She recently launched bridgingpolitics.com and said her mission is to “amplify tomorrow’s voices by connecting generations and perspectives across the political spectrum. The hope is to foster dialogue that helps young people understand today’s politics while helping leaders understand the ideas shaping our future.” Annika’s story is a testament to what is possible when curiosity and conviction are matched to the right environment. From a teenager building a political blog to a college student visiting the UN, Annika has carried Salem’s mission and culture with her every step of the way.