HWS News
25 April 2024 • Service Oswalt '24 Goes "All In" for Campus Democracy By Colin Spencer '19
In recognition of her dedication to civic engagement and voter participation, HWS Votes Co-President Katelyn Oswalt ’24 receives national honor. Oswalt will attend Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University this fall.
As she ends her time at Hobart and William Smith and prepares for law school, Katelyn Oswalt ’24 has been named one of only 137 students nationwide to the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge Student Voting Honor Roll. The honor roll recognizes student leaders who “have gone above and beyond to advance nonpartisan student voter registration, education and turnout efforts in their communities.”
A political science and psychological science double major, Oswalt serves as co-president of HWS Votes and is a civic leader for the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning. Some key initiatives Oswalt has helped run this year include bringing former U.S. Reps. John J. Faso (R-NY) and former U.S. Rep. Dan Glickman (D-KS) to campus, getting students to pledge to vote in upcoming elections and providing information and resources for students to get registered.
“Being listed in the Campus Democracy Challenge is a very big honor,” says Oswalt, who will attend the Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University this fall. “Voting can be difficult on a college campus where people hail from across the United States. I’m fortunate to have been able to contribute to helping individuals access their ballot. Our initiatives emphasize that there are so many different elections, from school boards all the way up to this year’s Presidential election, we support students through all of them.”
During her tenure on campus, HWS Votes has been recognized as one of the 384 Most Engaged Campuses for College Student Voting.
As a student, Oswalt held an internship with Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) and studied abroad in Galway, Ireland. She says, both opportunities helped solidify her decision to attend law school at The Ohio State University.
“There is a great breadth of curricular opportunities across many disciplines within the field of law and several clinical opportunities I am interested in; the proximity to the state capital opens up many doors for potential government opportunities,” says Oswalt.
In addition to her dual major, Oswalt minors in media & society. She is a Writing Colleague, member of the Public Leadership Education Network and serves on the Day of Service planning board. She formerly served as secretary of HWS Democrats, copy editor of The Herald and was a Teaching Assistant in “Introduction to Media and Society.” She’s a member of the Laurel Honor Society, Pi Sigma Alpha and Psi Chi. She works as a student writer with the Office of Communications. During the Summer of 2023, she was a research assistant on a multimedia project with Assistant Professor of Media and Society Jiangtao Harry Gu and continues the work as an independent study project.
