CIRCLE - Key Persons
Aashna John is second year graduate student at The Fletcher School, Tufts University, pursuing the Law and Diplomacy program. Her work at CIRCLE focuses on communications and increasing CIRCLE's digital presence. She is interested in ideating social media engagements through various forms of content.
Role
Abby joined CIRCLE in 2005, after working with students across the country, to focus on maintaining a conversation between research and practice. Now, as Deputy Director of CIRCLE, Abby continues that work and also provides leadership for CIRCLE's election strategies, website content, and external communications. She has worked on several major research projects and evaluations while at CIRCLE, as well as on several partnerships to support growing voters for a more equitable electorate.
Abby is well-versed in the wide range of youth civic and political engagement efforts and practice, and brings a broad view of the institutions and interventions that can make up ecosystems for civic development among all youth. She is most interested in how to effect change in community, institutional, and political systems to reduce inequality. Abby has been cited by news outlets such as The New York Times, CSPAN, NPR, and PolitiFact. Learn more
Education
M.A. - American Studies, University of Maryland
B.A. - Sociology, Villanova University
Role
Alberto Medina leads CIRCLE's communications. He collaborates with CIRCLE leadership on strategic communications, oversees the editorial work to produce and disseminate research, and maintains CIRCLE's digital presence. Alberto began working with CIRCLE in his previous role as Communications Specialist at the Tisch College of Civic Life-CIRCLE's institutional home-where he led a variety of communications efforts and initiatives. A graduate of Yale University, Alberto previously worked as a freelance writer and editor and at national newspapers in his native Puerto Rico. He is a commentator and advocate on Puerto Rico's political status and a member of the boards of directors of Boricuas Unidos en la Diáspora and the Denver Urban Debate League.
Job Titles:
- Expert
- Senior Consultant, the Forum for Youth Investment
Alicia Wilson-Ahlstrom is a nationally recognized expert in youth development and youth organizing, and building systems that reflect the human-centered needs of children, youth and families. She currently serves as a Senior Consultant for the Forum for Youth Investment, Readiness Projects team on national and regional projects supporting youth, families, and organizations in advocating and organizing around their own community and social supports; advancing the work of research-practice partnerships to promote equity and improve community institutions; and strengthening community-driven work to ensure that the social and community ecosystem supports all youth. Alicia has completed fellowships with the Coro Foundation for Public Affairs, the New Leaders Academy and the Moody Exchange Fellowship for Professional Study in South Africa. She holds Master of Public Policy and Master of Social Work degrees from the University of Michigan.
Role
Alison Cohen, PhD, MPH, is an affiliated researcher with CIRCLE. Alison's research includes studying educational, health, and civic inequities among young people, and evaluating strategies to reduce inequities using quantitative and qualitative techniques and in partnership with practitioners. Trained in both epidemiology and education, she has a PhD in epidemiology and a Masters of Public Health in epidemiology and biostatistics from UC Berkeley.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder, Kentucky Student Voice Associate, Omidyar Network
As an associate at Omidyar Network, Andrew conducts research and analysis to inform the programmatic portfolio, and actively engages across their investment and stakeholder network to reimagine critical systems and the ideas that govern them. Before joining the Omidyar Network, Andrew served as a National Geographic 2020 education fellow, supporting youth-led movements and organizations around the globe. He co-founded the Kentucky Student Voice Team, which helps to amplify and elevate students as partners in improving Kentucky schools including through the successful #PowerballPromise campaign that restored $14 million for low-income student scholarships.
Before that Andrew worked as the national field director for Student Voice, interned at and then consulted for the Obama Foundation's program team and served in strategic communication roles at APCO Worldwide and Hattaway Communications. Andrew attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science. He is currently pursuing a Master's in Education Policy & Management at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
represents the 3rd Essex District (Haverhill) in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He serves as the Vice-Chair of the Economic Development and Emerging Technologies Committee. He also serves on the following committees: Ways & Means, Education, Public Health, and Redistricting. He is a member of the MA Black & Latino Caucus. Rep. Vargas was previously elected to the Haverhill City Council, where he served as the city's first Latino elected official. He is a proud graduate of Haverhill High and Boston University. Rep. Vargas is also an alumnus of the Obama White House and previously worked for Entrepreneurship for All (EforAll). Some of his legislation successfully signed into law include: boosting housing production, mandating civics education, expanding school breakfast participation, and creating a new gun violence prevention program within the Department of Public Health.
Job Titles:
- Founder and President of Impactual LLC
Ashley Spillane is the Founder and President of Impactual LLC, a powerhouse social impact firm that supports brands, nonprofits, and philanthropists that want to see positive social change in the world. She is a nationally recognized civic engagement expert, featured in publications and media outlets such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Glamour, and Marie Claire. Her focus at Impactual is on creating innovative programs to engage people where they are, producing engaging and educational resources, and facilitating trusted partnerships among hundreds of brands, nonprofits, and influencers. Under Ashley's leadership, Impactual has quickly become an award-winning agency that has helped architect some of the country's most visible civic engagement programs, such as Power the Polls, a project that set out to recruit young poll workers in 2020 to address shortages caused by COVID-19. With an initial recruitment goal of 250K, the program successfully recruited over 700K poll workers with help from celebrities like Lady Gaga, Dan Levy, Trevor Noah, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Kerry Washington. Ashley served at the helm of leading civic engagement organizations like Rock the Vote, The Atlas Project, and Democratic GAIN. During her tenure at Rock the Vote, she was credited with "reviving the 90s-era voter registration juggernaut," partnering with heavy hitting brands like iHeartMedia, Tinder, and Verizon and cultural leaders like Young Thug, Kendall Jenner, and Lil Jon. Ashley holds a degree in International Affairs from The George Washington University and a master's degree from the Harvard Kennedy School.
Ben Wessel is an organizer and political activist passionate about mobilizing young people to vote. Ben spent seven years at NextGen America, the nation's largest youth vote organization which works to electing progressive candidates by turning out young voters, including two years as Executive Director. Before joining NextGen in 2014, Ben worked for Cory Booker's campaign for U.S. Senate in New Jersey, as the Political Campaigns Manager for 350.org Action, and as the Youth Vote Director for President Obama's reelection campaign in New Hampshire. His work in the youth climate movement has taken him from a Russian research vessel in the Norwegian Arctic to the halls of Congress and state capitols across the country. He is a board member of the Alliance for Youth Action and a native of the District of Columbia.
Job Titles:
- Principal at Catamount Management Corporation and Vice President
- Principal, Catamount Management and Vice President of Real Estate, HP Hood LLC
Chris Kaneb works as a principal at Catamount Management Corporation and Vice President of Real Estate at HP Hood LLC. He has many years of experience in permitting, leasing, management and construction of numerous commercial and residential real estate projects throughout the northeast. His primary focus has been the redevelopment of former industrial sites and adaptive reuse of historic structures in urban locations. Chris earned a BA and MLA from Harvard University. He lives with his family in the Boston area.
Job Titles:
- Dean of the Jonathan
- Dean, Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life
Dayna Cunningham is Dean of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, CIRCLE's institutional home at Tufts University. Previously she served as Executive Director of the MIT CoLab, where she built large-scale, multi-sector development collaborations that combined sustainability, wellness, and democratic control of economies in marginalized communities. While promoting inclusive economic development that is environmentally sustainable, socially just, and deeply democratic, CoLab applied expertise from disciplines and sectors including urban planning, civil rights advocacy, business, and community and labor organizing. An attorney by training, Dayna has worked throughout her professional career on promoting democratic participation and addressing social marginality. Through the ELIAS Project, an MIT-based collaboration between business, NGOs and government, she worked with leaders using profound innovation processes to create multi-sector initiatives for economic, social and environmental sustainability. Prior to that, Dayna was an Associate Director at the Rockefeller Foundation supporting efforts to explore changing racial dynamics and new conceptions of race in the U.S., as well as civil rights legal innovation. Prior to the Rockefeller Foundation, Dayna worked as a voting rights lawyer with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, litigating cases in Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi and elsewhere in the South, and briefly as an officer for the New York City Program at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
Job Titles:
- Managing Partner of the Venture Philanthropy Firm New Profit
- Managing Partner, New Profit, Inc. and Executive Director, America Forward
Deborah S. Smolover is a Managing Partner of the venture philanthropy firm New Profit, and the Executive Director of America Forward, a national nonpartisan policy initiative. Deborah also leads the America Forward Coalition, a network of 100 social innovation organizations that advocate for public policies that advance equity, foster innovation, and reward results in education, workforce development, poverty alleviation, and criminal justice reform. Deborah served as Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, and Counsel to Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder. She has served in leadership roles and on the boards of numerous organizations, including: Turnaround for Children, the Yale University Child Study Center/National Center for Children Exposed to Violence, the I Am Your Child Foundation, the We Are Family Foundation, Third Sector Capital Partners, and the AppleTree Institute for Education Innovation. Deborah has taught at law schools throughout the DC area. She is an honors graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.
Job Titles:
- Research Partner With Illinois Civics Hub
Grace is a Research Partner with Illinois Civics Hub and CIRCLE, where she will be working on evaluating Illinois Middle School civic education standards and supporting the Democracy Schools project. She is a second-year graduate student from the Stevenson Center at Illinois State University, pursuing her M.S. in Political Science and Applied Community and Economic Development. Her research centers on youth civic engagement, youth voter turnout, and youth participation in community development. Before joining CIRCLE, she worked with multiple community development organizations, including serving as a Youth Development Promoter in Peace Corps Costa Rica. She holds a B.A. in History and International Studies from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Job Titles:
- Youth Empowerment Officer at the Allstate Foundation
Greg Weatherford II is the Youth Empowerment Program Officer at The Allstate Foundation. In this role, he leads Allstate's national philanthropic efforts to empower youth to succeed and lead. This mission is personal to Greg: at the age of 12, he created his first nonprofit to provide youth with knowledge, funding, and other resources to create their own service projects based on their passions. This initial experience led Greg on several paths, including developing special projects for municipalities and universities and building his own for-profit companies. He co-authored the book "Better Together: How 30 Days of Service Changed My Life" to encourage people of all ages (but especially youth) to serve their communities.
RuQuan Brown is a junior at Harvard University who had no idea that he'd be attending Harvard just five years ago. Growing up between Seattle, Dallas, and D.C., RuQuan experienced many challenges, from gun violence to domestic violence, that have developed his resiliency. He has also used football as a platform to speak about what's important. RuQuan started a clothing line, Love1, after his teammate and stepdad were killed during his high school years. Love1 has donated thousands of dollars to families in poor communities that are impacted by gun violence. RuQuan has been heavily involved with March For Our Lives and is a current board member and spokesperson for the organization. RuQuan now works in venture capital and enjoys sharing his paintings with collectors.
Job Titles:
- Director of the Center for Civics, Education, and Opportunity, Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute
Janet Tran serves as the Director of the Center for Civics, Education, and Opportunity for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute. She helped design the Foundation's non-partisan civic learning portfolio answering President Reagan's call for an "informed patriotism." In 2015, she established the Reagan Institute offices in Washington, DC with the launch of Leadership and the American Presidency (LTAP) and is the founder of the inaugural Reagan Institute Summit on Education (RISE), a bipartisan education policy convening. Janet serves on the Board of Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE), as a Senior Advisor to the Campus Election Engagement Project. Janet's civic mission began serving as a teacher-leader in Los Angeles. Janet earned her BA from The University of California, Los Angeles, and her Masters of Education in Curriculum and Instruction at California State University, Northridge. She earned her Doctorate in Education Learning Technologies at Pepperdine University studying the identity development of citizen leaders.
Job Titles:
- the Research Program Assistant
Katherine Pinney is the Research Program Assistant at CIRCLE's home institution: the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University. She recently graduated from Westfield State University in 2022 with a BA in Political Science and Economics. At CIRCLE, Katherine supports the team in an administrative capacity as well as assisting with various projects. She is interested in barriers to civic participation, particularly voter suppression efforts like complex voter ID laws, unfounded claims of voter fraud and polling place closures.
Katie Hilton is a Research Analyst at CIRCLE, where they do data analysis and visualization in support of CIRCLE's research, primarily focused on voter registration. Katie has a strong background in data analytics working in both the private and public sector. Their last job was at Priorities USA, where they worked on the analytics team to support Priorities' mission of using digital advertising to mobilize voters. They hold B.A.'s in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Virginia.
Job Titles:
- Director for the Democratic Practice - United States Program at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund
- Director of Democratic Practice, Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Keesha Gaskins-Nathan is the director for the Democratic Practice-United States program at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the lead for its Racial Justice Initiative. Ms. Gaskins-Nathan is dedicated to advancing measures and ideas that improve democratic systems and engage democratic culture in the United States to support full and fair democratic and economic opportunity for all residents. She is a long-time organizer, lobbyist, and trial attorney. Prior to joining the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, she was senior counsel with the Brennan Center for Justice, serving as the director of the Redistricting and Representation program. Her portfolio included redistricting reform, voting rights, and elections, with a focus on voter suppression issues. Previously, Ms. Gaskins-Nathan served as executive director for the League of Women Voters Minnesota and the executive director for the Minnesota Women's Political Caucus.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Newhouse Director
Role
Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg is the Newhouse Director of CIRCLE. She oversees CIRCLE's wide-ranging portfolio of research and impact projects with its diverse partners and for audience groups. Kei has a background in Community Psychology and Social-Emotional Learning, which she applies to various projects at CIRCLE. Before coming to CIRCLE, Kei worked with young people and families at a public high school, and at an emergency room and community health center as a therapist in training. Working with people who faced numerous structural challenges made her want to work with systems that created those challenges in the first place, which attracted her to CIRCLE.
As a leading voice in the youth civic engagement field, Kei is frequently featured in major outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, National Public Radio, C-SPAN, Channel 1, and NBC. Kei is a recipient of the Jobs for The Future Distinguished Fellowship for Student-Centered Learning (2016-2018), and serves on the National Board of Generation Citizen, Democracy Works. Most recently, she played a major role in development of the Our Common Purpose, a commission-report from the AAA&S, and the Educating for American Democracy initiative. She earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Loyola University, with an emphasis on positive youth development and community psychology.
Education
Ph.D. - Clinical Psychology, Loyola University Chicago, 2008
M.A. - Clinical Psychology, Loyola University Chicago, 2004
B.A. - Psycholoy, Knox College, 2001
Job Titles:
- Impact and Outreach Manager
Role
Kelly Beadle joined CIRCLE in February 2019 and manages CIRCLE's voter registration research project. Her role is to lead qualitative and quantitative analysis on voter registration and participation, in addition to program evaluation for the project. Before joining CIRCLE, Kelly worked on program development, running field experiments and fundraising in numerous national and state-based organizations. She began her career and worked for over a decade in Minnesota, which she considers her home. In her free time, you can find her reading academic papers on experiments to change political behavior or planning a trip to a new country.
Role
Kelly Siegel-Stechler is a Senior Researcher at CIRCLE, where she studies civic development and political socialization in schools. She is primarily focused on projects that advance civic learning and development in K-12 education, as well as questions related to youth political and electoral engagement. Prior to joining CIRCLE, Kelly worked as a Research Fellow with the Institute for Education Policy at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education, where she supported their work on civic development as it relates to curriculum, instruction, and school culture. Her professional background is in educational programming and youth outreach and engagement. She has led programs in global and multicultural education including Model UN, interfaith debate, and international exchange programs. She also has a background in political science and international relations. Kelly is passionate about advancing equity and strengthening democratic institutions by improving opportunities for all young people to access and use the skills and knowledge they need to meaningfully participate in civic life.
Lily Feng is a second year undergraduate student at Tufts University, pursuing international relations. Her work at CIRCLE supports research efforts in promoting youth civic engagement and activism through CIRCLE's partnerships with local youth-focused community organizations.
Liz Kopecky started at CIRCLE as a Project Manager in September 2022. She collaborates with CIRCLE leadership to oversee project implementation, strategize about process improvements and hiring, and monitor grant processing. Liz splits her time between CIRCLE and the MGGG Redistricting Lab, another research center at Tufts University's Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life. She is interested in community engagement and passionate about supporting CIRCLE's mission and research.
Madeline McGee is a former CIRCLE fellow and continues to contribute to CIRCLE's work on particular initiatives. As a Project Coordinator for Research at Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, she is interested in the intersection of youth, digital media, and democracy, and in particular the role of media and digital communication in the civic and political development of young people. During her CIRCLE fellowship, she studied the interplay between media and civic engagement, with a particular focus on youth-adult partnerships and participatory design, youth voice and media creation, and local communication ecologies. She holds an M.A. in Child Study & Human Development from Tufts University and a B.S. in Media Studies from Kennesaw State University.
Maha is a second-year MS in Data Science student at Tufts University. Her work at CIRCLE focuses on youth political engagement, and how the youth vote influences election outcomes. She has a B.A in Biology and Statistics from Mount Holyoke College.
Mahnoor Hussain is a Program Manager at CIRCLE, where she supports outreach and builds meaningful partnerships with election practitioner groups and stakeholders. Mahnoor is an active community organizer in the greater Washington, D.C. area and an experienced public policy advocate with a background in civic engagement, immigration, and civil rights. She holds a B.A. American University's School of International Service. Mahnoor is deeply committed to advancing equity for all communities.
Naraya is the Equitable Democracy Fellow at CIRCLE. Naraya recently graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University as a Robertson Scholar. At UNC, Naraya received a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy and African, African American, and Diaspora Studies. While at Duke, Naraya received two Certificates in Human Rights and Prison Studies. Naraya graduated with Highest Honors and a member of the Phi Beta Kappa society. Her senior honors thesis, which measured civic engagement patterns among formerly incarcerated Black women, received multiple departmental awards. Naraya brings to the team classroom experience in rural Mississippi and Southeast D.C. and an overwhelming belief that the pursuit of educational equity is inextricably bound in the fight for social, economic, and racial justice
Nicole Faraci joined CIRCLE in 2020. She is currently a third-year PhD student in Education with a specialization in School Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research broadly focuses on youth political engagement and equitable civics education. Through her work with many stakeholders in a variety of schools on both the east and west coasts, she has seen the success that youth can have within their communities when provided with quality support and curriculum. Nicole is passionate about the intersection of research, practice, and policy in order to foster meaningful and empowering participation of young people in civic life.
Job Titles:
- Researcher
- Senior Researcher
Noorya Hayat joined CIRCLE as a researcher in January 2016. She works on projects that help promote civic learning and engagement in the K-12 education system and beyond, and she is interested in the intersection of education, both in formal and informal settings, and civic learning and awareness in youth, particularly from marginalized and diverse ethnic backgrounds. Noorya has experience working in the U.S. and abroad in teaching and educational research. Before joining CIRCLE, Noorya worked as an international researcher and coordinator in public health and nutrition awareness in the developing world. She has experience teaching and mentoring students from diverse backgrounds and grade levels, and worked as an early childhood educator in Boston.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Family & Community Medicine
- Assistant Professor, Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Dr. Ballard is an Assistant Professor of Family & Community Medicine in the Wake Forest School of Medicine. Her research focuses on understanding how young people engage with their communities, increasing equitable and meaningful opportunities for youth voice in communities, and understanding how community engagement is related with healthy youth development. In one current project, funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse, she applies ideas from developmental psychology to increase opportunities fory outh voice in substance misuse prevention efforts. In another current project, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, she is co-leading a randomized-controlled trial study to understand the effects of a school-based action civics intervention. Outside of work, Parissa spends time exploring mountains, creeks, and playgrounds around North Carolina, with her husband and three young kids.
Role
Peter de Guzman is an Associate Researcher at CIRCLE, where he conducts research on voter registration, the electoral context of youth voting, and youth media creation. Peter is particularly interested in social identity and political participation among young people of color. CIRCLE projects Peter has contributed to include multiple analyses on the political participation of Asian American youth and the ways community-based voter registration groups engage new members of the electorate. Learn more
Education
B.A. - Chinese & International Relations, Tufts University
Job Titles:
- Research Director at the New Georgia Project
- Research Director, New Georgia Project
Ranada Robinson is the Research Director at the New Georgia Project and the New Georgia Project Action Fund. Ranada is responsible for designing and moving forward NGP and NGPA's mission-driven research agenda and transforming research findings into strategic insights that inform the organization's strategic efforts. Ranada's overarching goal for everything she does is making historically disadvantaged communities better for future generations. Before joining New Georgia Project, Ranada was Senior Project Manager at Market Street Services, a holistic economic development strategic planning firm that has worked in 35 states and over 150 communities, where she worked for over 12 years. Ranada holds a Master of Science in Urban Policy Studies with specializations in policy analysis and economic development and planning and a Master of Science in Risk Management and Insurance from Georgia State University. Ranada is also a graduate of Tougaloo College, where she earned bachelor's degrees in mathematics and computer science.
Ruby Belle Booth started at CIRCLE as a Diverse Democracy Fellow in the summer of 2020 and is now CIRCLE's Election Coordinator. She graduated from Tufts University in 2021 with a BA in History and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Ruby is interested in youth civic participation as a pathway for social, racial, and economic justice. She is passionate about increasing youth voice throughout our political and education systems and in CIRCLE's work. At CIRCLE, she has worked on a range of projects including the CIRCLE Growing Voters report, and she is coordinating CIRCLE's 2022 election work. Ruby is also a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice researching civic learning and engagement.
Job Titles:
- Director, Civic Engagement and Government, Ford Foundation
- Is Director of Ford
Sanjiv Rao is director of Ford foundation's Civic Engagement and Government program, which seeks to strengthen representation, participation, and leadership in US democracy so that communities have the capacities to shape their futures, animated by principles of dignity, inclusion, and fairness. His grant making has evolved to focus on youth organizing, civic engagement, and leadership development. His work focuses on ideas that are particularly relevant to realizing the promise of democracy: stitching together civil society organizations more effectively with public systems, supporting community-led solutions to systems change, and advancing agendas that center people and their lived experience in shaping inclusive civic spaces and responsive public institutions. Sanjiv began his career as an elementary school teacher in California, Texas, and Mexico. He has also held positions at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University and as a member of the research team studying the Ford-funded Leadership for a Changing World program at New York University.
Job Titles:
- Postdoctoral Researcher
- Research Fellow
Role
Sara Suzuki is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at CIRCLE where she is working on projects that explore how youth civic engagement-ranging from voting to community organizing-can empower communities and bring about social change. Her research focuses on how young people use sociopolitical reflection and action (critical consciousness) to challenge systems of oppression. In her work, she also pursues innovation in anti-racist and anti-oppressive quantitative methodology. Sara currently serves as the chair of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice committee at Tisch College. She has a Ph.D. and M.S. in Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology from Boston College, and a B.A. in Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis. As a member of the Society for Research on Adolescence, Sara is involved in the Emerging Scholars committee and Inclusion, Equity, and Social Justice committee. She is an active community organizer in Cambridge, MA and is the development coordinator for Cambridge HEART.
Sarah is a fourth-year PhD student in Applied Developmental Psychology at Suffolk University. Her research at Suffolk University focuses on social media literacy and social justice in youth development. Her work at CIRCLE supports research efforts in promoting civic engagement and civic learning through social studies curricula across grades 5-7. She also holds an M.A. in Forensic and Legal Psychology from Roger Williams University.
Job Titles:
- Project Manager
- in 2020 As the Project Manager, Restructuring Processes
Role
Sarah Keese joined CIRCLE in 2020 as the Project Manager, restructuring processes and enabling CIRCLE to deepen its vital efforts and strengthen our civic engagement work. Joining the team from Albania, Sarah has a background in database management with the Department of Defense and worked on a USAID project in Albania focused on deterring radicalization and violent extremism through women's empowerment, youth engagement, and civic strengthening. Despite this seemingly disparate background, Sarah is passionate about the mission of CIRCLE to collaborate with and recognize youth as assets in their communities. Through her work in international development, she has seen firsthand the impact that youth can have within their communities as agents of resiliency and change and appreciates the value of research and data to inform these crucial programs.
SJ McGeady is a Research Assistant at CIRCLE working on voter registration research. They graduated from The College of William and Mary in 2020 with a BS in Mathematical Biology. In 2021 they graduated from Georgetown University with an MS in Bioinformatics. Currently, SJ is a PhD student in the Biology department of Tufts University. SJ is passionate about lowering the racial voting gap in order for elections to better represent the growing diversity of the American public. SJ is currently working on a major voter registration report as well as a new project on racial voting gap analysis on the 2020 election results.
Sofia Gross is the John S. McCain Democracy Fellow at the McCain Institute and an International Strategy Fellow at Schmidt Futures and Snap's former Head of Policy Partnerships and Social Impact, where she worked on political, government and non-profit partnerships around the world. Most recently, Sofia led an initiative that helped over 1.3 Million Snapchatters register to vote and she was recognized as a Forbes 30 under 30 for Law & Policy. Sofia completed the Technology and Democracy Fellowship at Harvard Kennedy School where she co-authored a case study on Civic Responsibility: The Power of Companies to Increase Voter Turnout. Sofia studied International Studies and Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations at The University of Chicago where she was also Captain of the Varsity Swimming & Diving Team. Sofia currently serves as a strategic outreach advisor to The University of Chicago Admissions Office and serves on the Board of Advisors for the Institute of Politics at UChicago. Sofia advises a number of civic organizations including Civic Alliance, 50x2026, Civic Responsibility Project, National Voter Registration Day, Vote Early Day and TurboVote. She also serves as a Public Affairs Officer in the United States Navy Reserve.
Job Titles:
- Board Trustee, San Diego Unified School District
Zachary Patterson is a high school senior and the first student ever elected to the San Diego Board of Education. Beginning in 7th grade, Zachary spent three years advocating for the creation of a Student Advisory Board and the addition of a student member to the Board of Education. After receiving support from the school board and being elected by fellow students, Zachary quickly got to work on student-centered priorities. Zachary has changed district absence codes to allow excused absences for mental health and successfully passed a requirement for mental health education. He has stressed the urgency of climate change and worked with students to successfully pressure Governor Newsom to phase out offshore oil drilling. Zachary is President and founder of the California Student Board Member Association which works to ensure that all Student Board Members are provided with education and training on how to effectively serve as a student trustee. Under Zachary's leadership, CSBMA sponsored two bills in the California State Legislature aimed at supporting student mental health and expanding student representation at the local and county level. Zachary works with students across the country, devoting much of his time to ensuring equitable student voice and engagement.
Job Titles:
- Empathy and Education Practitioner
- Founder of the Get Schooled
Zoë Jenkins (she/her) is an 18-year-old reimagining education and empathy. Zoë is the founder of the Get Schooled podcast and on the board of the Kentucky Student Voice Team. As a part of her podcasting work, she was named a 2020 National Geographic Young Explorer. Zoë also works with Civics Unplugged to empower Generation Z as civic innovators. She also founded DICCE, which creates curriculum and resources for Generation Z to be more culturally responsive, empathetic, and equity-driven. Zoë has facilitated many workshops including with Stanford's d.school and The Nobel Prize. She has been featured in The Washington Post and NPR's All Things Considered, and was named a 2021 Aerie Changemaker. She is a second-year student at the University of Virginia.