From Community to Campus: Turning Civic Engagement into Admissions Success

Jahnavi Rao is the President and Founder of New Voters, a youth-led 501(c)3 that empowers high school students to be heard and prioritized in politics. Since starting New Voters 8 years ago as a high school club, the over 300 directors and interns have civically engaged tens of thousands of high school students across 500 high schools in 42 states. New Voters has been recognized by the United Nations and featured in Teen Vogue, CNN, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, NBC News, Bloomberg, C-Span, HBO Max and Forbes.

Jahnavi has been recognized on the 2025 Forbes 30 under 30 List for Social Impact, as a 2024 L’Oréal Paris Women of Worth, as a 2024 Aspen Ideas Festival Fellow, and as a Rhodes Scholar Finalist. Jahnavi graduated from Harvard College in May 2023, majoring in Government with a minor in Music.

She also serves as the Director and Founder of the New Voters Research Network, the convener of the New Voters Collaborative, and a Senior Fellow at the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement at the University of Maryland. Previously, Jahnavi served as an intern in the White House Office of Public Engagement where she helped drive youth engagement, Deputy Campaign Manager on a state-legislative race, Director of “Boston Votes!” at the Harvard Kennedy School, and youth head of Youth Engagement and Millennial Participation at the DNC.

Jahnavi is also passionate about music and vocal performance, having studied Indian Classical and then Western (Operatic) vocal performance from the age of 6. She is a nationally ranked singer (NAfME & PMEA) and has performed in professional operatic productions in Italy and at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia (International Opera Theater). She has portrayed the roles of Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) and Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro) in Harvard College Opera productions.