Morgan Wood
Binghamton University
Morgan Wood, a junior at Binghamton University, is a passionate advocate for women's rights. She began her advocacy work in high school through the Girl Up program, which supports United Nations programs promoting the health, safety, education and leadership of girls in developing countries. She established the Upstate NY Coalition of Girl Up, which, under her direction, has grown to include thirty chapters. Through an internship with the U.S. Department of State and Girl Up, Morgan helped plan and run a WiSci STEAM Girls Camp in Thyolo, Malawi, for 98 high school girls from across the African continent, empowering them to be competitive with their male counterparts and providing them with access to high-tech resources, like-minded peers, impactful business connections and inspiring mentors. Morgan is also passionate about the fight to address climate change, and as a global strategy intern for the Citizens' Climate Lobby, she attended the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, where she introduced a "Youth Charting the Course" panel featuring UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. Locally, Morgan works on fostering campus and community coalitions with local government through involvement with organizations such as CARE Action! and the Roosevelt Institute.
Personal Statement
My sophomore year was by far one of my most accelerated years at Binghamton. Fresh from my summer internship with Girl Up, a United Nations Foundation Campaign, in Washington D.C., where, by day, I helped establish and launch the Girl Up Campus Coalition, and, by night, I helped build the It's On Us coalition for all 64 SUNY Schools. All of my hard work paid off because the same weekend that I helped host the first Girl Up Campus Symposium, I was invited to meet Vice President Joe Biden, to be recognized for building a statewide network of student leaders who support It's On Us on their campuses. Most recently, I spent the summer traveling between Washington D.C. and Thyolo, Malawi for my internship with the U.S. Department of State and Girl Up for the third annual WiSci: Girls Steam Camp. The experience changed my life. It solidified my belief that if we continue to uplift girls from all around the world, we will solve the world's biggest problems, not only issues of gender inequality, but also issues like climate change and closing the digital divide globally.
