2022-23 Year in Review: Menlo College Students Create Community and Energize for the Future Posted on June 15, 2023January 27, 2025 by Chieri Abe Throughout the past academic year, Menlo College students came together to create new community groups on campus and advocate for innovation and change. With the College’s support, students pursued betterment through self-guided exploration, as well as betterment for the campus community and the generations to come. Living Learning Community Takes Root A group of Menlo College students formed the Living Learning Community (LLC) this year to expose themselves to new environments and organizations that value innovation. The members became a close-knit community living in the same residence hall, and supported each other personally, academically, and professionally. The LLC offers students opportunities to learn from different perspectives and backgrounds, providing a cohesive view of the many ways to innovate and develop new ideas. This year, the group visited several companies, including the Shark Tank-funded startup Truffle Shuffle, Stanford d. school, the startup accelerator BootUp Venture, and Google. This spring, the LLC met with Mukul Agarwal, the founder, and CEO of BootUp World. During the visit, Agarwal shared his personal story and the mission of his company to empower entrepreneurs and innovators. “To be successful, one must focus on mastering oneself and building positive relationships with others,” he advised the students. Agarwal encouraged them to find clarity on what success means to them, emphasizing that self-awareness is the foundation for everything else. The students described Agarwal’s advice as life-changing. Learn about student activities at Menlo! Civic Activism: Students Advocate on AICCU Day in the Capitol Diana Guardado ‘23 and Sophia Umanzor ‘25 proudly represented Menlo College at the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities Day in the Capitol student advocacy event. It was held this spring in the state capitol, Sacramento. As First-Generation Latinas pursuing their education at a private, non-profit institution, Diana and Sophia shared their inspiring personal stories with the officials present. Additionally, they emphasized the significance of being recipients of Cal Grants and requested the officials to continue support of funding for higher education based on the transformative impact it has had on their journeys. “Everyone’s story is unique and powerful but one thing we all have in common is our hunger and ambition to continue moving forward. We are the future and we are worth the investment.” – Sophia Umanzor ‘25 Learn more about Menlo’s Political Science minor Diana Guardado ’23 Named to 2023 ALL IN Student Voting Honor Roll With her active participation in generating election voting among her peers this past fall, Diana Guardado ’23 was named to the 2023 ALL IN Student Voting Honor Roll representing Menlo College! The honor recognizes college students leading nonpartisan voter engagement on their campuses. This year, the Ask Every Student group awarded $5,000 to the Civic Engagement Coalition of Menlo College. Guardado led the proposal with the Dean of Arts and Sciences and Professor Melissa Michelson. Coalition co-leaders Diana and Angielyn Dela Cruz ‘24 used the funds to increase nonpartisan civic learning, political participation, and voter registration through celebratory community-based events. Menlo College students, led by co-leaders Angielyn ‘24 and Diana ‘23, also held a candidate forum for the Atherton City Council, in cooperation with the League of Women Voters of South San Mateo. All four candidates joined moderators Guardado and Joshua Villalva ’23, Atherton residents, students, and employees, in conversations about affordable housing, racial profiling, and civic engagement. “Voting enables us to stand up and shape the kind of communities we want to live in. The outcomes of protests, the results of Supreme Court hearings, and the livelihood of our generation are shaped by the leaders we elect. We have the power to enact change that is for and by the people. Fortunately, under the guidance of Dr. Michelson, she enabled me to create a civic engagement coalition on campus for my peers and me to speak directly with elected officials of Atherton about our concerns regarding race-based treatment from law enforcement and the lack of transparency from the city.” – Diana Guardado ‘23 Learn more about how student voices are empowered at Menlo College Sixth Cohort of Innovation Fellows Named Four Menlo College students, Chieri Abe ‘24, Raymond Juballa ‘23, Mali Korn ‘25, and Dennis Vanin ‘24, were designated as University Innovation Fellows this academic year, after completing rigorous training. The University Innovation Fellows program, a global initiative, equips student leaders with the skills and knowledge to foster innovation, entrepreneurship, creativity, and design thinking on their campuses. By joining this esteemed group, these students had the opportunity to connect with fellows from various universities, and immerse themselves in Menlo’s vibrant innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, Menlo’s participation in this program, now in its sixth year, demonstrates the institution’s commitment to nurturing a culture of innovation and empowering its students as change-makers. Learn more about the University Innovation Fellows program About Menlo College Menlo College was established in 1927. It is a small, private, non-profit, four-year, accredited, residential college located in Atherton, California. Menlo College’s location in Silicon Valley, one of the world’s most entrepreneurial and innovative geographical areas, has enabled the college to create a valuable market niche for its students locally — as well as globally. Menlo College cultivates in its students the skills, integrity, and passion to make meaningful contributions in an innovation economy. Read More: 2022-23 Year in Review: Menlo College Students Win at Academic Competitions; Earn Awards Four Student Innovators Named to Stanford’s UIF Program All of Menlo College’s Rankings and Reviews
Menlo College’s Dean of Arts and Sciences Expands on Commitment to Engaging Student Voters ahead of 2022 Elections Posted on April 25, 2022January 27, 2025 by menlocollege Dean of Arts & Sciences and Professor of Political Science Melissa Michelson this month launched the Student Vote Research Network (SVRN), an inclusive, collaborative space for scholars, students, advocacy organizations, and community practitioners to come together to grow college student voter engagement through research and programming. Student voter turnout has surged in recent years, doubling from 2014 to 2018, and students voted at nearly the same rate as the general population in the November 2020 election after decades of low rates of participation. The SVRN seeks to grow student civic engagement even further, with a goal of 100% student turnout. Increasing student civic engagement is seen by scholars as crucial to the future of the health of democracy, and to giving younger Americans a voice in political decisions that affect their lives such as student debt, funding for higher education, and the economy. Menlo College Contributes to National Initiatives to Increase Student Voter Turnout Many scholars and organizations have worked to understand student turnout over the past few decades, including the National Study of Learning Voting and Engagement (NSLVE) and other coalition spaces. SVRN brings the conversation together into a single network, in order to cultivate cross-pollination of ideas, research findings, and on-the-ground knowledge from students and practitioners. “We’re looking to bring together all of these individuals and organizations who have been working independently in isolation so that we can be clear on best practices, what we need to know, and what we need to add,” Dean Michelson said. Nearly 1,000 colleges committed to making a plan for achieving 100% student voter participation in the 2022 elections, and the Student Vote Research Network aims to help these institutions achieve their goals. Co-founded by Democracy House, an organization co-founded by Ian Simmons, the Student Vote Research Network will officially launch on Wednesday, April 27, 2022 with an inaugural Workshop on the State of the Student Vote. This will be a collaborative space for dialogue among scholars, students, and advocates dedicated to growing college student voter engagement. Attendees will be able to share knowledge, workshop ongoing projects together, and brainstorm ideas about research initiatives. Mobilization Continues Around Campus in Effort to Increase Voter Participation More locally, a team of 12 students at Menlo College is working with Dean Michelson toward the 100% participation goal, supported by a grant from the San Mateo County Voter Engagement Fund. The initiative is looking to increase voter turnout through one-on-one outreach by student leaders, visual reminders on campus and on social media, use of classroom time to allow students to register, and easily-accessed educational materials. The Menlo College Student Voter Mobilization Plan’s specific activities also include on-campus registration drives in April, as well as a ballot completion festival in mid-May after vote-by-mail ballots arrive. For the past decade, Menlo College has also hosted an on-campus polling place, including options for on-site registration and early voting. President Steven Weiner also recently signed the ALL IN Presidents’ Commitment, a commitment as part of the ALL IN Challenge to reach full student voter registration and voter participation in all elections. These recent activities are the latest in a lineage of political engagement research and activity on college campuses by Dean Michelson. In 2021, Dean Michelson ran a study with the Ask Every Student (AES) initiative, featuring participation from more than 2,200 students at 14 campuses nationwide to support campus efforts to achieve full student voter registration. “During the pandemic and the shift to virtual learning, many campuses were unable to conduct their planned face-to-face voter registration and turnout efforts,” Dean Michelson said. “This study explored how well they were able to pivot to online outreach. We also found persistent points of friction and surprising effects of spillover to families. The results will help guide future efforts, and future studies, as we continue to work toward the goal of 100% participation.” Through this collaboration, Michelson produced ground-breaking scholarship that confirmed the efficacy of the AES program, as well as provided important insights on how to make the program more effective in the future. Menlo College Students Turning Interest in Political Science into Majors and Minors Michelson’s leadership in student voter research and advocacy efforts line up with the College’s recent creation of a Political Science Minor, which officially made its debut in 2021-22. Many Menlo students have created their own Political Science major on campus through the Individualized College Major program, as well. Two of these students, Student Government Association President Rasmia Shuman ‘22 and Latinx Club Treasurer Diana Guardado ‘23, are co-leading the current #MenloTo100 effort. “I have learned that the study of Political Science exists not only to provide students with a form of living after graduation; more importantly, it is intended to educate students on how to advocate and promote the well-being of their community,” Guardado said. “Politics play an important role in every person’s life,” Dean Michelson said. “To educate students on political science is to support advocacy and social justice.” Applying to Menlo CollegeCelebrating Volunteers at Menlo CollegeFocused on Student Success: Menlo College Earns Three New 2022 Top College Rankings About Menlo College Menlo College was established in 1927. It is a small, private, non-profit, four-year, accredited, residential college located in Atherton, California. Menlo College’s location in Silicon Valley, one of the world’s most entrepreneurial and innovative geographical areas, has enabled the college to create a valuable market niche for its students locally — as well as globally. Menlo College cultivates in its students the skills, integrity, and passion to make meaningful contributions in an innovation economy.
