HWS News
24 November 2025 • Service HWS Votes Travels to National Student Voter Summit
Trip gives students a chance to reflect, learn and share on topics regarding voter engagement and the 2024 election.
HWS Votes leaders recently traveled to the 10th Annual National Student Voter Summit at the University of Maryland, College Park, gaining new ideas and inspiration as they connected with peers and national leaders working to advance student civic engagement.
The summit brought together hundreds of nonpartisan leaders, students, nonprofit partners, faculty, administrators, philanthropic organizations and election officials to strengthen a decade-long movement aimed at increasing student democratic participation nationwide.
In 2024, Hobart and William Smith was recognized as one of the ALL IN Most Engaged Campuses for College Student Voting, an honor awarded to institutions that demonstrate an exceptional commitment to nonpartisan democratic engagement.
Lessons from the summit will directly inform the development of the HWS Votes 2026 Voter Engagement Action Plan, created for the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. The team will host an open forum on Dec. 2 from 4:30–5:15 p.m. in the Seneca Room to gather campus feedback on proposed strategies. All members of the HWS community are invited to participate.
The gathering comes on the heels of national turnout data from the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement’s National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement. According to the data, in the 2024 election, 53% of college students voted, 76% were registered and 70% of registered students cast a ballot. While these numbers represent significant engagement, speakers emphasized that continued progress requires campuses to adapt to student needs and experiences. Hobart and William Smith will receive 2024 campus-specific voter engagement data in early 2026 from CIRCLE.
The summit was hosted by Students Learn Students Vote, a national hub and nonpartisan network dedicated to increasing college student voter participation.
In reflecting on 2024 successes, one of the summit’s keynote speakers, Sudhanshu Kaushik of the North American Association of Indian Students, reflected, “We didn’t expect students to leave their world to enter ours; instead, we entered theirs. The principle is universal: Participation happens when people feel seen. When people recognize themselves, they show up.”
This message resonated deeply with the HWS Votes delegation, who have long championed strategies that prioritize accessibility, creativity and authentic engagement.
“My hope for HWS and the future of civic engagement is to meet students where they are instead of making students come to us,” says Gavin Brignall ’27, an HWS Votes co-leader.
Fellow HWS Votes co-leader Kalila Caringal ’27 emphasized the role of design thinking and creativity in shaping civic culture: “Creativity is not decoration, it’s a strategy,” she says. “When we use art, culture, emotion and design-thinking, we transform civic engagement from an obligation into an experience. When students feel seen, inspired and invited into something meaningful, they show up, not just to vote, but to participate in democracy.”
First-year students Zaida Diaz Maturin ’29 and Hayley Ross ’29 echoed that sustained investment, flexible information-sharing and civil discourse are essential to supporting college voters and creating space for democratic dialogue.
“Reaching college voters is rooted in finding creative ways for engagement and creating sustained investment in programs like HWS Votes,” Diaz Maturin says.
“Staying open to diverse thoughts and opinions that challenge your perception of truth is essential,” Ross adds. “Civil discourse goes hand in hand with democracy.”
HWS Votes leaders noted that voter engagement strategies across campuses both large and small shared a common theme: meeting students where they are.
“I am immensely proud of the work HWS Votes puts forward in engaging both the campus and Geneva communities in a plan to vote,” says Peter Budmen ’15, MAT ’16, associate director of the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning. “Our Post-Election Fall 2024 Evaluation is just one artifact capturing the degree to which HWS Votes embeds its work into every facet of student life.”
The summit was made possible thanks to support from Student Engagement and club budgets.
Top: Gavin Brignall '27, Kalila Caringal '27, Haley Ross '29, Zaida Diaz Maturin '29, Peter Budmen ’15, MAT ’16 pose for a photo at the 10th annual National Student Voter Summit hosted by Students Learn Students Vote at the University of Maryland, College Park.
