A recent West Albany High School graduate has won the top prize in a national civics competition.
Caroline Gao won $10,000 for her work as founder of a cultural exchange program, called The World in Us, that connects teens across 26 countries to build friendships and learn languages.
Gao was pretty excited when she heard the news: "I certainly did some celebratory screaming."
Caroline Gao
The civics nonprofit Bill of Rights Institute, which promotes civics and history education, organized the national contest to encourage students to develop community service projects.
David Bobb, CEO and president of the Bill of Rights Institute, said the contest — the MyImpact Challenge — helps students become civically engaged.
People are also reading…
"Today's students are tomorrow's leaders, and it is important that young people learn to work within their communities to solve problems and create opportunities," Bobb said in a statement.
This year, the contest awarded students across the U.S. a total of $40,000 in prizes, with Gao nabbing the top prize for her cross-cultural education organization.
Gao's organization started as a local initiative in 2020, partnering with the Greater Albany School District, the local Boys & Girls Club and Oregon State University.
She said she was initially focused on cultural education in Albany and was inspired by her own experience as a Chinese American.
Since 2020, her organization has grown to serve more than 650 participants across multiple continents. The World in Us programs include writing competitions, virtual coffee chats and virtual summer exchange workshops, where participants can learn languages and build civic leadership skills over Zoom.
Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Albany Democrat-Herald.
Gao is going to Cambridge at the end of the summer to begin her first year at Harvard College, where she will study government. But she still plans to expand her nonprofit's reach by continuing existing programs and creating global chapters of her organization.
"I want more people to have that kind of (cross-cultural) opportunity," Gao said.
