Hobart and William Smith graduate Kelly Howe has been named to the 2026 ALL IN Campus Democracy Honor Roll for work encouraging student voting. The recognition honors nonpartisan efforts to increase turnout and civic participation.
Howe, a member of the Class of 2026, helped lead HWS Votes alongside Rafael Aguilar and Jasmine Goncalves Piment. Their work helped HWS earn recognition among ALL IN's most engaged campuses in 2024, according to a college announcement.
Over two months in 2024, Howe and Aguilar organized 71 events, collected 415 voting pledges and registered 102 new voters. Their outreach also generated 4,728 unique points of contact with faculty, students and staff.
During the 2025-26 academic year, HWS Votes hosted a State of the Union screening, a New York City mayoral election watch party, Voter Education Week activities and voter-education bingo. The group held registration drives, helped students find polling places and shared information about issues.
Howe also organized peer-to-peer outreach that sent students personalized information about voting in their home states. Peter Budmen, HWS' director of student success and retention, praised her planning, execution and focus on giving everyone access to voting.
An international relations major, Howe captained the William Smith hockey team, received a Hockey Humanitarian Award nomination and twice earned NEHC all-academic recognition. She also participated in the Laurel, Hai Timai and Sigma Iota Rho honor societies.
Her campus roles included Teaching Fellows, Writing Colleagues and senior admissions intern, along with summer research with international relations professor Stacey Philbrick-Yadav. She now serves as assistant director of admissions at Wheaton College.
Students from Cornell, Tufts and Yale were also included on the national honor roll.
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