Policy Committee
The Policy Committee develops most new campaigns for GENup to pursue. They are also in charge of drafting educational policy, reaching out to legislators and tracking key bills that GENup may support.
Co-Chief of Higher Education
Policy
Abigail Lee (she/her) is an undergraduate student at UCI and started as an organizer with DiversifyOurNarrative in 2020. After founding her local DON chapter, Abigail spearheaded a movement to oppose her district's Critical Race Theory Ban and mobilized students, teachers, and parents in the community to fight against extremist policies. Through her experience as a grassroots organizer, she found her love for public policy and is passionate about promoting anti-racism and inclusivity among youth. Abigail later got promoted to the department head of DiversifyOurNarrative's Mobilization department and then transferred to the policy department as the Interim Executive Director of Policy. She has ample experience in public speaking, team leadership, and mobilization. She has been a guest speaker and multiple events such as California Association of Student Councils (CASC)'s Region 9 Conference and PEN America's Freedom to Read Summit in Orange County.
Co-Chief of Higher Education
Policy
Katie Chau (she/her) is a rising freshman at UC Riverside as a Public Policy major. After finding her passions for social activism, human rights, and voter outreach, she joined a local Diversify Our Narrative chapter, which she helped to expand into her own high school. There, she would focus on youth outreach and helping to spearhead initiatives to introduce BIPOC literature into classrooms and prevent bans on Critical Race Theory. Following the school board's attempt to replace student classrooms with charter schools, Katie worked with Voices for PYLUSD to lobby the board's actions and collected 2,000 signatures on a petition from community members. And when the same school board attempted to conduct a mass termination of beloved staff due to differences in political ideology, Katie helped to spearhead a district-wide walkout, with over 200 students in support and features in the OC Register. She would continue to uplift youth causes through becoming a Mock Anaheim City Council Member, reviewing student led spending proposals for public works. Aiming to expand her outreach, Katie transitioned to interning for local congressional campaigns, where she conducted surveys on key political issues throughout CA-40 for the 2024 election cycle. At GENup, she looks forward to continuing her efforts in social equity and educational access through meaningful and effective policies that can make tangible differences in the local level. In her free time, you can expect Katie to be baking Claire Saffitz's entire cookbook, driving down PCH with friends, and rewatching season 2 of Gilmore Girls.
Director of
Policy
Elise Choi(She/her) is a junior at the Orange County School of the Arts and serves as Director of Policy at GENup and High School Research Fellow at the Media Education Lab. An aspiring journalist, Elise is a former reporter with Scholastic Kids Press and currently writes for her school newspaper, OCSA Evolution, as well as the Los Angeles Times High School Insider, where she also serves on the Student Advisory Board. As a 2024 Civic Innovator Fellow, she examined the connections between media, education, and civic engagement. Outside the newsroom, she enjoys studying world history and foreign languages and is committed to empowering young people to think critically and participate meaningfully in the media landscape.
Director of
Policy
Director of Policy
Utkarsh Sinha is GENup's Director of Policy and is passionate about creating change and amplifying youth voices. Utkarsh works for his counties youth advisory board where he helps spread awareness on issues affecting the youth. He is extremely interested in politics and has written for the National Center of Youth Law as a guest writer. One of the main issues Utkarsh works in is mental health and he has spoken at California's State Capital advocating for a bill by sharing his story to the press. Utkarsh attends Irvington High School as a sophmore and he participates in Parlimentary Debate and serves as the Treasurer for the number one ranked Model UN team in the bay area. He also loves to teach younger students, volunteering as a summer lead for the Non Profit Fremont Debate Academy in teaching an eight week debate course. On the STEM side, he is the Vice President of Communications for Fremont Robotics Academy where he helped send over two thousand books to Malawai to help their education, petionined to lower the import tax in India for robotics kits, and hosted numerous competitions. In his free time, Utkarsh loves to read, hang out with his friends, watch basketball, and exploring new topics to educate himself and his peers.
Varsha Garigipati(She/Her) is a senior at Silver Creek high school in San Jose, California. She has a passion for policy and youth advocacy, with experience serving on the City of San Jose's Youth Advisory council as the Deputy Commissioner of Communications. She also is the Executive Officer of San Joses GENup chapter where she works to bring GENups mission to her community, through policy reforms and youth events. Through her previous work in policy, she has been a persistent advocate for education equity, presenting reforms to the Santa Clara Democratic party on issues such as censorship in curriculum. She strives to continue policy reform and advocacy through GENup and hopes to make the education system equitable for all.