Eighteen-year-old Annie Giman already has more political experience than some Democratic presidential hopefuls (and the current president). She’s served as deputy campaign manager for Manhattan state Assemblyman Harvey Epstein’s last year, interned at the Mayor’s Office in the Community Affairs Unit, and co-founded Amplify Her, an organization helping progressive female candidates in New York City win their campaigns.
Though she excelled at working in local politics, Giman doesn’t plan on running for office anytime soon. As a senior at the High School for Math, Science & Engineering at City College of New York and founder and president of its astronomy club, her passion lies in STEM.
Giman inspires and empowers women in New York City politics and in her chosen career path in the sciences. She organizes community-building women’s meetings and lunches at her high school, which is 65 percent male, and volunteers at the Museum of Math on weekends to get young girls excited about her field.
“So many times at the museum, there are young girls who tell me about how they suck at math,” she said. “Then they come again in a couple weeks, and a couple weeks after that, and they start enjoying it more and more as they realize that people told them that girls aren’t good at math, but maybe that’s not true.”
Next year, she’ll bring her passion for women’s leadership and STEM to Yale, where she plans to study physics and philosophy. But she’s not leaving the clipboards and campaign stickers behind.
“I can always go out and volunteer in my community, get involved on campaigns and influence things even if I am doing research in a physics lab or even if I am in grad school,” she said. “It’s important to directly advocate for those issues and those people that you want to advocate for, which is why I’ll probably never stop working on campaigns. Politics isn’t something you need to major in in order to get involved.”
Process of elimination: Giman is an avid viewer of “The Bachelor.”
Meet the rest of this year’s 36 Under 36 here.
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