“Civic engagement means sharing your voice in whatever way you choose to express it, whether that’s advocacy, voting, organizing, or demonstrating your beliefs. It’s a way of sharing your values with the world and making that shine in our democracy. Because at the end of the day, democracy is just a collection of voices.” —Keira Chatwin, ’27, Chemical Engineering, and the chair of this year’s Democracy Day

“Each person has a different view on what’s important to them, and I think for me, civic engagement is really focused on discussion and living intentionally as much as we can in how we govern. As president of the Stanford Political Union, my goal is to create a forum to learn where people are coming from and have difficult but important discussions that I believe push us toward a better democracy.” —Nathan Kuczmarski, ’26, Political Science

“Civic engagement means listening to your community, understanding perspectives, being willing to engage with them, and being an active member in deciding how we should live and how we should organize ourselves.” —Esha Gupta, ’26, Symbolic Systems

“Civic engagement means voting, of course, but I think learning is also a big part of it. As Gen Z, it falls on us to educate ourselves about the things we care about – not to have apathy, but instead, to learn about what we want to change and get out there and make that change.” —Mayowa Adesina, ’27, Computer Science

“Civic engagement means contributing to society in some way, like volunteering. It also means activism to get people involved in our democracy. Civic engagement also means holding rallies or an event like Democracy Day, where we’re all trying to encourage each other to look beyond our normal classes and instead look at how we could go and engage with the community. That’s what civic engagement really is about – engaging with the community and trying to make it better as a whole.” —Sylvia Casillas, ’29, Public Policy

“Civic engagement means hearing opinions of people who disagree with you. I like to reach out and hear what other people think, even though they might have a different view from me – I still think we can be friends. Civic engagement is a great way of bridging divides, and it’s a great way of just getting to know people.” —Nason Li, ’29, Political Science

“Civic engagement means to me that you have a knowledge and understanding of our country’s history. And you have a willingness to participate, whether that’s voting or getting involved in a cause that you care about. And that you practice healthy civic dialog across lines of difference.” —Joe Nail, ’26 MBA and MA, International Policy

“Civic engagement means being willing to engage in conversations with your peers and not just engaging with the screen; you’re also engaging with real perspectives and people who believe different things. I think it also means not giving up because you feel nihilistic about the current atmosphere.” —Tula Peltz, ’29, Political Science

“It’s very easy to think that your opinions or thoughts don’t matter, or that in your community, you can’t make a difference. But that’s not true. Civic engagement is a way for us to stand up for what we believe in, exercise the rights that we are given in this country, and find a way to make a difference.” —Ava Gall, ’27, Human Biology

“Civic engagement is about more than just voting. It’s being educated about what propositions mean to you within a state. It’s about encouraging others to get educated about things going on that affect you, and also how your leaders affect you – even when you’re young. It’s really important for young people to be civically engaged, which is why I love that Stanford hosts this event, because many people feel that policy only matters when you’re an adult. I think that’s why civic engagement means to me, getting educated more than anything.” —Avanti Ramraj, ’26, Human Biology