Madeleine Moore - University of Chicago

Throughout this year, I have been working on the campaign trail. After working for Elizabeth Warren in the Democratic primary, I began working in Kentucky to elect Amy McGrath. I spent five months organizing events and training organizers to get the vote out and persuade voters. The pandemic has caused a lot of shift in what electoral organizing looks like and it was very exciting to get creative about how to best reach out to voters while not being able to do a lot of door knocking or in person events. My team helped increase voter registration and turnout significantly, setting a good foundation for future Kentucky candidates to challenge their legislators more successfully. While we were not successful in removing Mitch McConnell from office, I have been able to help elect Reverend Warnock and Jon Ossoff to the U.S. Senate. Since graduating, I have been working in politics and have been involved with this election cycle since June. It has been thrilling to dive more deeply into our electoral system and inspiring to work for an array of candidates. While the election cycle has ended for a bit, I am looking forward to discovering another side of politics in D.C., off the campaign trail. While looking for work, I have been able to return to the Vineyard and spend some time with family. It has been so refreshing and nice in the middle of all this chaos. Thanks to MVYouth, I have been able to make all my career decisions free of the burden of student loan debt. I recognize how fortunate that is and am grateful that MVYouth has given me the opportunity not only to attend the university of my dreams but also begin my career uninhibited by financial debt. I hope, one day, I will have the same impact on Vineyard students’ futures.