Young Philadelphians are finding success with PA Youth Vote, tipping peers toward civic involvement

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!

Vincent Nguyen said he did not really care about voting when he was at North Penn Senior School. He was in high school, so why bother paying attention to civics?

That changed for Nguyen when he was 15 and started an internship at Woori Center, a Lansdale nonprofit focused on achieving socioeconomic justice and building community power. There he worked in the civic engagement program, registering voters on college campuses, in senior homes and at grocery stores.

“Once I did tabling and door knocking with them for the first time, I saw how distant people were,” Nguyen said. “That really opened my eyes to this issue in our communities, this disconnect in our communities.”

Now 19 at Montgomery County Community College, Nguyen says the experience helped him figure out the path he wanted to take in life, working toward a political or legal career. Today, he works with Philadelphia-based PA Youth Vote to inform other young people about voting and to continue the work he started in high school.

Across the Philadelphia area, college students are working to educate other young Philadelphians about the importance of active civic participation through their work with PA Youth Vote.

Getting the students started

Liza Meiris works with PA Youth Vote’s college interns as program director. Her responsibilities include driving voter registration and organizing civics education programs in high schools and colleges around the state.

Her interns work on a 14-week project of their choosing, in addition to an in-depth training program, all created with the goal of educating voters and propelling political participation.

“If a student really likes mentoring young people, then that’s what they’ll do,” Meiris said. “Or if they really like tabling, or I have one that likes data analysis or grant writing or making TikToks — whatever excites and engages them, I help them do, and then teach them leadership and civic skills within that.”

With a 20-year background of teaching history across Philadelphia, Meiris said that serving as program director has allowed her to combine her passion for education with instilling leadership skills in the next generation.

“I get to work with young people in the age group that I love, so there’s a lot of things that I love about this job,” Meiris said. “It brings it all together.”

Informing young people about civic processes

Samuel Gatheca, a senior at Temple University, says he often finds it difficult to find information about candidates, especially in local elections.

One of the projects the 21-year-old is working on for PA Youth Vote is a voter guide, so people can make informed decisions.

“I think voter guides are really important, especially before entering the booth,” Gatheca said. “Because I want people to be prepared.”

Gatheca also spends time working information tables in colleges, high schools and middle schools to inform other students about PA Youth Vote.

Nguyen is working to bring young people into the civic process as well. He is building a nonpartisan public speaking training program to teach high school and middle school students about how they can participate in the democratic system.

The project is set to include a series of workshops on how local government works, how to prepare public comments for meetings and how to deliver those remarks confidently.

Nguyen said his goal is to get students to participate in something that means more to them than a line on their college application.

“It’s to empower them,” Nguyen said. “I’ll know I’ve succeeded if I see these students continuing to engage with local civics beyond the program.”

Tapping into the community

Lina Lin, a 19-year-old attending Drexel University, started Youth Voice Mosaic, PA Youth Vote’s digital magazine, in the summer of 2025. It is a platform for students across the state to share personal stories, highlight community issues and improve civic and media literacy.

Lin said she wanted to create a community to amplify youth voices, where people come together through lived experiences with civic engagement.

“A community where people can engage with each other and that the youth feel represented and empowered to share their voices,” Lin said.

PA Youth Vote intern Raniyah Lawrence-Ashford, a sophomore at Lincoln University, is focused on in-person engagement with her school community in order to get fellow students involved in the electoral process.

Lawrence-Ashford said she saw the positive effect of tabling at her school and thought it would be a compelling way to involve her peers in civics, at local and federal levels. She thinks that the effects of smaller elections are not as well known among her contemporaries.

“I feel like a lot of students at my campus know a lot about the presidential elections, but I really want to teach about the local and early elections as well and how they impact the community,” she said.

More hope for the future

Meiris said that, although she has been working with PA Youth Vote for only a short time since she started in the fall of 2025, the students she works with have already made an impact on her outlook for elections in the country.

“I am incredibly inspired by every interaction I’ve had with young people in this position,” Meiris said. “They give me hope for the future.”

In her experience as a teacher, Meiris said, it seems like students are more aware of social and political problems in the U.S. They question why things are happening and they want to know how they can make them better, she said.

“Kids are always thoughtful, but I’m seeing a difference in the generation just in the last five years,” Meiris said.

Nguyen’s experience with PA Youth Vote, too, has given him a more optimistic outlook for the future of youth voting. In the past, he said that when he would ask his peers what they thought about a particular issue, he always got the same answer: “I’m not into politics.”

Nowadays, everyone has an opinion, a side they argue for, Ngyuen said, and he thinks that this level of civic engagement is great.

“Even if I may not agree with some people, I think the fact that we’re able to have these sorts of debates is a privilege. You know what I mean?” Nguyen said. “Not many countries are able to say the same.

Editor’s Note: This story is part of a series on Youth Civic Engagement funded by the William Penn Foundation. WHYY News produces independent, fact-based news content for audiences in Greater Philadelphia, Delaware and South Jersey.