About Us - Davidson Gifted Blog - Making an Impact Through Civic Engagement

Making an Impact Through Civic Engagement: Community Service, Volunteerism & Leadership

November 4, 2020

Jan Davidson, co-founder of the Davidson Institute, once said that "anyone who has the ability to help another person, has the responsibility to help them." This message remains true through the Davidson Ambassadors program, available to Davidson Young Scholars. The purpose of the Ambassador Program is to foster learning and civic engagement through community service, volunteerism and leadership in gifted students to draw upon their unique skills and talents to make a positive difference in the lives of others. 

Read about a few of their featured projects below:

Aishani Aatresh

"Through my Ambassador project, I have the opportunity to tie together a variety of my interests in a platform that has the potential to make a difference in the educational realm. With Spark to Speak, I conduct weekly after-school sessions at a local YMCA, exposing elementary-age students to a variety of topics (using multiple sources/forms of media and discussion-based/hands-on learning), including current events, science, public-speaking skills and homework help. I focus on helping the students understand and analyze the topics and how the subjects matter to each student on a personal level, what opinions they form about each issue and why — hopefully instilling lifelong invaluable skills of curiosity and communication." 

Noah Rubin

"canCode is my community service project where I teach kids computer programming through an online software called Scratch. I harness kid’s love for video games while teaching them new skills in computer programming.  I have partnered with a local youth center - The Youth Activity Center of Boca Raton, to teach underprivileged students, train teachers, as well as pilot new curricula. I started canCode when I saw the gap in most traditional elementary schools - no computer programming logic introduction or instruction. Through canCode workshops, I can share my passion and inspire kids!" 

Annabelle Choi

Art is a notoriously overlooked subject in K-12 public schooling. On top of increasing social awareness and building community, learning about and practicing art regularly has been shown to increase graduation rates, decrease behavioral problems, and increase retention of information. Practicing art regularly can also enhance people's creativity, critical thinking, decision-making skills, and self-esteem. I started a community service project called The Pando Project two years ago through the Davidson Ambassador program in order to try to help find solutions to this problem.  Over the past couple of years, I've been developing a free art history lecture and project-based curriculum, which I teach at my local Boys and Girls Club and elementary schools every other week.  Each presentation I make has two elements, an interactive lecture about a different era in art history, artist, or artistic tradition, and an art project related to the content of the lecture.  Through these presentations, I really hope to foster students' creativity and curiosity, and hopefully inspire students to make more art. Although quarantine has definitely been a bit of a roadblock, I’ve continued to create and develop my art lessons throughout this time, and am excited to say that each is available and downloadable on my website: thepandoproject.org. 

Ashwin Sivakumar

Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I have always loved the outdoors. I am particularly passionate about nature and birdwatching. To me, birds are a fascinating yet easily visible manifestation of ecological complexity. I’ve taken a particular interest in the phenomena of migration and vagrancy, avian interaction with habitat, and avian conservation. Over the past two years, I’ve studied a wetland restoration in Oregon in collaboration with Portland Audubon, analyzed suitable California Condor habitat with the La Brea Tar Pits Museum, mapped owl territories in Southeastern Arizona on a trip with Earthwatch, and documented Amazona parrot hybridization with the Moore Lab of Zoology. However, it’s impossible to study birds and not fret about the dire threats they face, especially from habitat loss and climate change. This is what led me to my Go Native! project, where I have partnered with local nonprofit organizations like Pasadena Audubon and the California Native Plant Society to promote the use of native plants in public and private spaces.

Luke Gialanella

In the past, during some Model United Nations programs and other academic programs, I have had the ability to participate in many donation programs, whether it be through money or household items that many underprivileged families don’t have access to. I hadn’t really gotten involved with community projects in a major way until my non-profit organization, GOVLEARN, in the summer of 2017. GOVLEARN hopes to provide easily accessible government and civics education through PDFs, videos, and blogs. I have also taught multiple in-person classes using my PDFs across the Greater Los Angeles Area, where I am from. I have had the pleasure to be a part of the Davidson Young Scholar Ambassador Program, which has helped me progress GOVLEARN. During the 2018 midterm elections, I got involved with some political campaigns and outreach programs.

Shiva Oswal

In this COVID-19 world of social distancing and sheltering-in-place, Davidson Young Scholar, Shiva Oswal, engages kids through Live Action Role-Play (LARP). By drawing kids into the world of online Live Action Role-Play (LARP) - an activity that provides a safe, online outlet for the creativity and imagination of school kids of all ages – Oswal volunteers, designs, and leads weekly adventure game missions. In partnership with Fanwar, Shiva creates “online LARP missions” that engage and capture the imagination of elementary and middle school kids. During these adventure missions, Game Master, Shiva acts as referee and mentor, while facilitating social interaction. This, in turn, helps kids cope with social isolation and mental health issues brought upon by the pandemic. Read more about Shiva >

See also: Community Service Scholarships, Grants and Other Opportunities.

Gifted updates to share? Please contact communications@davidsongifted.org.

Davidson Young Scholars - FREE Services for Profoundly Gifted Students The national Davidson Young Scholars program provides FREE services designed to nurture the intellectual, social, emotional, and academic development of profoundly intelligent young people between the ages of 5 and 18 (students must be between the ages of 5 and 16 when applying). Benefits of the program include: Consulting Services An Online Community In-person Connections Community Service Endeavors Summer Programs (fee-based) Applications are due the first of each month. For more information, see the How to Apply and Qualification Criteria pages.