Mentorship as Civic Practice: Ashleigh McKenna’s Vision for Youth Engagement

When Ashleigh McKenna talks about civic engagement, her eyes light up with the spirit of someone who has practiced this work for a lifetime. Yet McKenna, now chief of staff at the Gen-Z-led nonprofit New Voters, will tell you that her entry into civic engagement was relatively recent.

“It was very serendipitous,” she reflects.

But even long before McKenna stepped into this role, she had been practicing service in smaller, subtler ways. At just 15 years old, she began volunteering at an overnight summer camp for people with developmental disabilities – a place she’s returned to every year since and where she now sits on the board. It was here that she learned to listen, to center lives that are often left behind.

“This has been such a life-changing experience,” McKenna says. “I think a lot of what has shaped me is that I’ve been around people who are different from me.”

Even early in her upbringing, McKenna had learned to navigate complex differences. She grew up in “famously purple” Chester County, Pa., surrounded by friends and family members who held sharply opposing views.

“I had people on both sides of the spectrum around me at all times,” McKenna explains. “So I was very familiar with the ways that people could get along and disagree – and also the ways that people could not get along when they disagreed.”

While this experience didn’t immediately push McKenna into politics, it did strengthen her resolve towards service work, to bridge disagreements through care. Driven by a mission to “help people through medicine,” she pursued her bachelor’s degree in biology at the University of Tampa, fully expecting to enter the medical field. But after landing a job in “Big Pharma” post-graduation, she found herself embedded in an industry that, at times, felt  “morally gray.” 

“I felt like the work I was doing for eight hours of the day didn’t really align with the morals and direction I wanted to see the world going in,” she says. “I obviously wanted to help people, but I didn’t think the work I was doing at my job was accomplishing that.”

Determined, McKenna searched for volunteer opportunities that would reconnect her to her service roots, without forcing her to leave her day job. In 2024, she stumbled upon a LinkedIn post from the founder New Voters – a national nonprofit aimed at mobilizing America’s high school students to vote – and realized she had stumbled onto a calling.

“New Voters focused my background passion that had always been there into something actionable,” McKenna explains. “And I think that’s what I was missing beforehand. I didn’t have a way to turn this into action until I found this.”

Initially, McKenna became involved as a volunteer, helping to run New Voters’ Pennsylvania state campaign leading up to the 2024 general election. While the goal of the campaign was straightforward – to register as many eligible high school students as possible before the deadline – McKenna quickly recognized the gaps in her own understanding of the civic landscape, despite years of training rooted in service.

“I think in the beginning, what was hardest was just understanding how uninformed I was,” she says. “I thought I knew so much about civic engagement – the rules and laws and barriers that were in place – but when working with high schoolers, and having to explain to principals what they can and can’t do, I found just how much I didn’t know.”

The steep learning curve only motivated McKenna to lean in further. As the election approached, her role expanded to running in-person events, from college and career fairs to venues well beyond traditional civic spaces – including, most memorably, the Philadelphia Eagles’ football stadium.

“We were able to be spotlighted as their civic engagement partner at one of their games,” McKenna remembers excitedly. “My boss got to go on the field and say hi to everyone. So it was a dream for me. I’m an Eagles fan – go, Birds!”

By January 2025, McKenna had become so committed to the work that she accepted a full-time position as New Voters’ chief of staff. Now, her scope has broadened to include more in-person outreach – supporting high school students to run voter drives themselves, pairing them with college mentors, and training her own young mentees to engage with large-scale donors.

“I never realized this is a career and can be a career,” McKenna says. “So I’m really excited to show [the students] the ropes that way and teach them those personal skills, bring them to banquets – a lot of the things I was never exposed to until after I graduated college.”

As for what excites her most right now, it’s the chance to carry forward that same kind of mentorship, this time through the nonprofit’s newest initiative: the New Voters 250 Fellowship.

Launched in celebration of America’s 250th birthday, the Fellowship empowers 125 high school students to organize 250 high-impact voter registration drives across the country before the 2026 midterm elections. Fellows will run voter registration drives in their own communities, pair with mentors, and participate in local community service projects – ultimately leading the future of civic engagement.

“Community service is super important to me, so I love that we brought that in this year and are helping people get more connected,” McKenna explains. “And I think that adds to the leadership skills we’re already developing – we’re already making a more cohesive democracy when you get out there and talk to people.”

This connection – the power of community – is a lesson not just for high school students, but a reminder that anyone, at any age, can help shape the health of democracy.

“It’s so, so important that your voices are heard in every aspect of your life,” McKenna urges. “The biggest thing and the easiest way for you to see impact is by getting involved in your local community.” 

For McKenna, that means starting where the stakes seem tangible: school boards, mayoral races, and local elections where the margin can be just a handful of votes. “At least in the kinds of small towns that I come from, there’s one or two people running, and one vote can literally make or break an election,” she says. “So the best way off the bat is to focus on what is directly impacting you and your community, and how you can get involved there.”

Meanwhile, McKenna’s passion remains in mentoring young people, meeting them early in their journeys and walking alongside them as they discover their civic purpose.

“Our goal, ultimately, is that one day, 100 percent of 18-year-olds are registered to vote before they graduate high school,” McKenna says. “That’s how you have the most inclusive democracy possible, that includes all ages and includes the students who are freshly eligible to vote. I mean, they are the ones who will hopefully be here the longest. So they are arguably the most important [to reach], at least in my eyes.”

Want to help empower the next generation of voters? Visit https://www.new-voters.org/not-a-high-school-studens to join one of New Voters’ growing initiatives.