Speakers

Amy Meuers, NYLC

Amy Meuers is the Chief Executive Officer of the National Youth Leadership Council, the leading service-learning organization in the country for more than 40 years. Amy has spent 20 years with NYLC leading both national and international service-learning initiatives that expand the capacity of educators to utilize service-learning as an instructional strategy with students of all age-levels.

Julie Rogers Bascom, NYLC

Julie Rogers Bascom is a service-learning leader from Minneapolis, MN who has been supporting youth workers, teachers and young people to use service-learning as a strategy to solve problems in their communities for over 17 years. Her passion for supporting young people to become problem solvers formed when her own children attended an Oakland, CA school where every student, every year was engaged in service-learning.

Jim Kielsmeier

Jim Kielsmeier has committed his life to transforming the roles of young people in society – building youth-adult partnerships that help young people grow from recipients of information and resources to valuable, contributing members of a democratic society. In the process, he has woven concepts of national service and experiential learning to pioneer service-learning, an educational approach that has benefitted countless young people, including many who haven’t responded to traditional educational models, and helped strengthen communities around the world.

Grace Chenxin Liu

Grace, a sophomore at Syosset High School in New York, loves researching and advocating for gender equality and sustainable development using STEAM by designing innovative solutions to real-world problems. She is a United Nations and TEDx Speaker, member of the Global WOMENSCONF Scientific Committee, and a YOUNGA 2022 Equality & Inclusion Working Group Leader. She founded Sharing to Empower, an internationally recognized global alliance to promote gender and sustainable development issues.

Molly Mathis

Molly Mathis is a junior from Hoggard High School in Wilmington, North Carolina. She has an avid love and interest in STEM, and enjoys being on the school’s Science Olympiad team and pursuing Biology research. She is passionate about creating an equal playing field, and writes about local STEM activities and service learning for the school newspaper. One current issue she cares deeply about is equality of different languages, opportunities, and access to resources.

Aisling Kelly

Aisling Kelly is a junior at Dominican Academy in New York, NY. She is passionate about social justice and improving mental health. She is deeply involved in both her local and school community, as she participates in a wide variety of clubs and volunteering. At school, she is involved in the newspaper, student government, the literary journal, and numerous other clubs and activities.