From the president
Jeannette Wang is a third-year political science major at Stanford University with a deep commitment to civic engagement and democratic renewal. Her public service began in high school as the only youth member of the Mountain View Public Safety Advisory Board, where she helped shape the city’s mental health crisis response. She also co-founded AAPI Silicon Valley to amplify Asian American Pacific Islander youth voices and advocate for ethnic studies curriculum in local schools. At Stanford, Jeannette leads efforts to strengthen democratic participation as chair of Democracy Day, the university's annual civic engagement initiative. In 2024, she oversaw 40 campus events and helped secure permanent university funding to ensure the program's future. Her academic work aligns with her activism—she has supported research on political polarization and democratic development through roles with the Polarization and Social Change Lab and the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law.
Personal Statement
In 2019, I was a police explorer. In 2021, I was an activist, organizing coalition rallies for racial justice. By 2022, I worked on improving policing: chairing a city commission and examining use-of-force policies. Each role empowered my belief that I could make a difference in addressing the key issues of our day. As Chair of Stanford Democracy Day, I wanted to build this feeling of self-efficacy about our American institutions, politics, and civic outcomes into our community’s civic culture. For Election Day 2024, I led a team to organize 40 events with 47 partners, drawing 2,000+ participants campus-wide. Our goal was to show the campus community how their stories could intersect with public service, regardless of their major or occupation. But entering new spaces–especially political spaces–is hard and awkward. In the lead-up to election day, I started the StandForDemocracy coalition, gathering all non-partisan civic student groups on campus with the vision that we might create cohorts of individuals who believe deeply in public service and democracy, making it easier to enter these spaces together. Now, I hope to work on strengthening our institutions in congruence with emerging technologies.