Nikila Kakarla’s Student Voice Live! Experience
Being part of the Student Voice Live! conference in April was a highlight of my year so far — proof positive that the leaders of tomorrow understand the challenges facing education, and are more than prepared to meet them head-on. One of those future leaders, Nikila Kakarla, was not only instrumental in organizing the event, she’s also taking her rightful place at the table to discuss what must change in education.
Kakarla, a sophomore at Barnard College, Columbia University majoring in Economics, is an Athena Leadership Scholar, a Resident Assistant and is treasurer of the Columbia Student Global AIDS Campaign. She also serves on the Athena Center for Leadership Studies Student Advisory Board. Kakarla has interned at the U.S. Department of Education, the Local Initiative Support Corporation, and Obama for America, and she currently works for the Campaign of Reshma Saujani(founder of Girls Who Code) for NYC Public Advocate. She’s a 2012 Young People Fellow at the People for the American Way Foundation and has spoken at the 2010 Global Education Conference and at the Exploring the State of Now Conference in 2011. But while her accomplishments are many, her goals are very straightforward: to give young people a voice in education.
According to Kakarla, “Students are often left out of conversations about their own education, but they are the