Research in Bloom: June 2024 Newsletter
3 Presentations, 3 College-Bound Research Assistants, and 3 Summer Sessions Complete!
As summer unfolds, we are excited to share what we have been up to the past two months! Read on to learn more about our:
Maryland Civic Education Summit Presentation: Discover how Sydney Fahn, NVRN’s Co-Founder and Deputy Director, inspired Maryland students and teachers with strategies for engaging high school students through political science research and voting.
Research Assistants' College Destinations: Join us in congratulating our three senior research assistants as they embark on their new academic adventures!
Philadelphia Community Schools Presentation: Learn about RA Anish Garimidi’s impactful session at the PA Voter Education Summit with the School District of Philadelphia, focused on voting efforts through research and grassroots efforts.
New Researchers Stats: As we wrap up week one of the summer program, see an overview of our student participants’ home states and grades.
University of Maryland Presentation: Read about how two groups of RA’s gathered feedback from affiliates of the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement at our second set of presentations at the University of Maryland.
Sydney Fahn, Co-Founder and Deputy Director of the New Voters Research Network, brought her expertise to the Maryland Civic Education and Engagement Leadership Summit in April. The summit’s theme was “Empowering Youth to Shape the Future of Democracy” and the goal was to inspire young people in Maryland to be active participants in our democracy. She led two sessions with over 50 students, teachers and other stakeholders, sharing insights on youth engagement in civics.
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The first session explored successful strategies for nonpartisan voter registration and political advocacy to inspire young people's participation. The second session tackled the challenge of low political research involvement among high school students. Kudos to the Maryland Civic Education Coalition on a fantastic summit!
Congratulations to our research assistants, Josephine Murphy, Collin Wang, and Jaden Wu for completing high school and beginning their college journeys! We could not be more proud of everything you have accomplished and your commitment to improving the world around you through research and community organizing.
Josephine, a recent graduate of Brooklyn Technical High School in New York City, is headed off to UCLA where she plans to pursue a double major in Political Science and International Development Studies. Before arriving in LA, she will be spending time with friends and family, as well as co-leading the New Researchers Summer Program!
After graduating last month from North Allegheny Senior High School in Pittsburgh, Collin will start at the University of Pennsylvania this fall. He plans to major in Economics and minor in Statistics and Data Science. This summer, Collin is excited to travel to Italy and China and spend time with family and friends before moving to Philly.
Jaden graduated from BASIS Oro Valley High School in Arizona and will be attending Johns Hopkins University this fall, where he plans to major in Public Health Studies. He is also considering adding another major or minor. This summer, Jaden traveled to China and Japan, and he is excited to explore the city of Baltimore.
We have just completed the first week of New Researchers, our free 8-week virtual summer program designed to equip high school students with the knowledge and tools to conduct and publish impactful research.
Following a rigorous application process, we accepted 62 students into the program. Our three sessions so far have featured an inspiring keynote by Prof. Michael Hanmer, Director of the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement at the University of Maryland, along with an overview of impactful research in political science and a crash course in research ethics.
Read on to learn more about the backgrounds and grade levels of this summer’s 62 New Researchers!
New Researchers 2024 spans 10 states, including California, New York and Texas. While most of our participants are rising 11th and 12th graders, we are thrilled to have students from the class of 2028 through 2025 in the program.
Want to learn more about the summer program? Click the button below for details.
In April, four research assistants delivered two research talks to an audience of University of Maryland professors, staff, undergraduates and graduate students. This marks the New Voters Research Network’s second presentation for affiliates of the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement at the University of Maryland. Research assistants Catherine Chan and Tanishka Sharma began the session by outlining the progress and methodology of our in-progress systematic literature review titled "What We Know About High School Voting." In the second half of the presentation, Josephine Murphy and Advait Rajan detailed the New Researchers Summer Program curriculum and solicited feedback on conducting qualitative interviews.
This newsletter was written by New Voters Research Network summer intern Jawahir Mohamed (Harvard ‘25) and May intern Sid Karthik (UMD ’28).