Reflections on two student leadership programs as the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School turns 60
Introduction
By Susan A. Hughes
March 9, 2026
The Institute of Politics (IOP) has historically been a space where Harvard College students, particularly undergraduates, participate in the civic life of our country.
Sixty years since its founding, the IOP remains one of Harvard Kennedy School’s most visible bridges between campus and country—nonpartisan by design, student-centered in practice, and focused on encouraging young people to participate in public life.
The IOP offers 18 programs for students, including two flagship programs, the Harvard Public Opinion Project which has run the Harvard Youth Poll for 26 tears, and the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum. As the IOP turns 60, HKS asked John Della Volpe, director of polling at HKS, and Natasha Pereira FAS 2028, a current IOP student committee member, to share their experiences.
HKS: How did the Youth Poll get started?
Della Volpe: The Harvard Public Opinion Project (HPOP) began as a single semester effort brought to the IOP by undergraduates Erin Ashwell and Trevor Dryer in the winter of 2000. I was a young pollster in Boston and volunteered to guide the project for that semester. I worked with David King on the methodology and instrument. That first study group had six students. Today, more than 50 semesters later, the program draws from a large and highly competitive pool of applicants.
Doing our job well means using our research to elevate the voices of young people so public officials have no excuse to ignore their concerns. When we started, campaigns operated in a catch-22: politicians said they didn’t speak to young people because they didn’t vote, and young people said they didn’t vote because politicians didn’t speak to them. Our work helps break down those barriers.
HKS: Why do you think it is so successful?
Della Volpe: It’s successful because the students themselves inspire the questions, and the project is built on collaboration. Every semester, they help shape what we ask and how we ask it, which keeps the research grounded in the real concerns of their generation.
Unlike community service, where you can often see the direct impact on someone’s life, the effects of politics are more distant and harder to measure. But there are moments when that impact becomes clear. After 9/11, for example, we were able to track a shift in engagement among young Americans from 2000 through 2008—shaped by the attacks, the wars that followed, and events like Hurricane Katrina. Youth participation increased, even in midterm elections, with turnout in 2002 higher than it had been in 1998.
Since then, young people have continued to shape American politics—from the Obama years to movements like Occupy Wall Street and now in a period marked by polarization and growing distrust of institutions.
One moment that showed the program’s impact came during the Biden administration, when our student leadership were invited to the White House to meet with the president, Ron Klain, and several senior advisors to discuss student debt relief. Our latest poll included questions on that issue, and the students were able to bring real data and context into that conversation.
Today we’re studying our second generation of young voters—Generation Z. Unlike millennials, Gen Z has little memory of political institutions working effectively. For them, politics is often less about ideology and more about experience—what they see, what they feel, and whether institutions are delivering in their lives.
HKS: Natasha [who is studying economics and history at the College], what led you to the IOP?
Pereira: Harvard's JFK Jr. Forum is absolutely one of the most unmatched opportunities this college has to offer. I actually didn’t know about the program when I first started college, but I attended Forum events throughout my first semester and felt like I had found my space. My second semester, I joined the student committee and never looked back. Now, the Forum represents a community of students who have become some of my closest friends. We disagree often, but we laugh more. We come from different regions, different political traditions, and different academic disciplines. But there is a shared seriousness about politics and public life that I cannot find in any other group of students.
The Forum also constantly reminds me of an underrated intellectual skill: sitting quietly and listening. Sitting across from policymakers, activists, and thinkers with genuinely competing worldviews has pushed me to hold my own opinions more loosely and more rigorously. That’s something Harvard’s lecture halls haven’t quite replicated for me yet.
HKS: You recently introduced a Forum discussion with a former cabinet secretary? What was that like?
Pereira: Introducing a speaker at the Forum is always a privilege because it’s a brief chance to say something meaningful. It’s only a few minutes, but those minutes matter. You’re standing in front of hundreds of people who showed up because they care, and you get to set the tone before the conversation begins.
For a college student, that kind of opportunity to impart your voice in front of such an engaged audience is rare. Also, having a platform is one thing. Having a thoughtful audience on the receiving end is another thing entirely. That’s what makes the Forum such a special place, and that’s what continues to make the experience meaningful for me.
Photography by Martha Stewart and Mike DeStefano