Katharine O’Gorman '10: Activist from the Start
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Perhaps it was Katharine (Kate) O’Gorman’s early exposure to politics, when her mother took her into the voting booth that triggered her life-long passion for politics and advocacy. O’Gorman, a political science major, says, "I’ve always been interested in history, and the political side of history, and wanted to get involved."
And so she has.
This native of San Diego, California, who moved to Shaker Heights, Ohio, for high school, first found her footing as an organizer when she and other students worked to persuade the community to support a school tax levy. And for her high school senior project, O’Gorman developed a students’ guide to voting.
O’Gorman practically lives and breathes politics and public policy.
This summer she’s a fellow at the Roosevelt Academy in Washington, D.C., which is the summer program of the Roosevelt Institution, a student-run public policy think tank. O’Gorman will be working on the 80 Million Strong campaign, a campaign dedicated to creating and expanding new opportunities for young American jobs and "uniting Young Americans to own and direct their economic reality." She is "fascinated and excited" by this opportunity to draft legislation for this campaign, and "help build the movement behind this critical issue facing young Americans." As research director of the Roosevelt Institution at Columbia, O’Gorman has published two policy papers, one on compulsory voting and the other on the elimination of state legislature term limits.
"What gets me excited is how to build a coalition around something," says O’Gorman, who is thinking about law school or graduate school in public policy down the road. "I do see myself working behind the scenes in relation to politics."
O’Gorman is president of the Columbia University College Democrats on campus, a group she’s been involved with since her sophomore year. During the recent election season, she and other Democratic activists planned a student campaign in Virginia on behalf of congressional candidate Judy Feder, Senator Mark Warner, and President Barack Obama. Last summer O’Gorman also worked as an intern for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the areas of social services, child and family services, labor, small business affairs, and consumer affairs.
Always a team player, O’Gorman coached softball in high school and continues to play on local teams in the Morningside Heights area. She also relishes her role as a resident advisor in the dorms. "I love that job. Residential Life trains you in public speaking and crisis management. You feel confident in moving forward," she says
—Merri Rosenberg ’78
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