Barnard College

Week 1 of The Voices in Action Initiative

For my Leadership in Action project, I developed a program called The Voices in Action Initiative. Here is my first reflection of the program so far:

Jul 12, 2025

Reese Taylor

Research Scholar, Barnard College, Columbia University

Like Be the first to like this

This week marks the end of the first week of my Leadership in Action summer project, The Voices in Action Initiative. The program I developed serves youth by equipping them with the tools to uplift and mobilize their voices in advocacy for the issues they care most about—empowering them to protect and serve their own communities.

Launching the program in Nassau, Bahamas was both an exciting and daunting task. Each day of the initiative involves four hours of programming designed to meaningfully engage each student. While I was initially nervous about developing and continually refining the curriculum, the students have met me every day with eagerness and a genuine excitement to learn and grow. They’ve confronted new and often challenging topics and skills with grace and determination.

Some of the highlights from the past week include teaching expository speeches and learning what topics they are most passionate about informing others on; a public speaking game I created inspired by the reality TV show The Traitors, designed to strengthen argumentation and communication skills; and our preparation for a mock trial based on the Kurt Vonnegut story Harrison Bergeron.

Beyond the initiative itself, I’ve also had the opportunity to more deeply engage with Bahamian culture—celebrating Independence Day at a Junkanoo festival and exploring more of the island through travel.

I’m so excited to see what the next few weeks will bring!
Clip from a mini-lecture: https://youtube.com/shorts/dGqzojFPep0

Clip from Independence Day Junkanoo: https://youtube.com/shorts/KfgH7Gjh3QM

Reese Taylor (She/Her)

Research Scholar, Barnard College, Columbia University

Reese Taylor is a rising junior majoring in Philosophy, History, and Human Rights on a pre-law track. As a Laidlaw Scholar, she spent her first summer researching the role of labor in the economic and social uplift of Black Americans in the wake of Reconstruction. She was selected to present this research at Johns Hopkins University, The University of Pennsylvania, and the Global Laidlaw Scholars Conference.

In her second summer, Reese founded The Voices in Action Initiative which is a program developed to empower and mobilize youth voices by providing them skills and practice in speech and debate. She enacted the program in Nassau, Bahamas with sponsorship from both the Laidlaw Foundation and The Kiwanis Club of Nassau.