It would be an understatement to say senior Angelina Xu is well-known throughout Montgomery County. As the elected president of the Maryland Association of Student Councils (the state-wide student government), co-founder of the local non-profit Compostology and a director for the Montgomery County Regional Student Government Association, Xu’s name has become synonymous with student advocacy. Most recently, she was selected as one of two leaders from Maryland to be a part of the prestigious United States Senate Youth Program, which takes place in D.C. this year from March 2 to March 9.

Xu first began her work in student government after a friend invited her to a meeting by the county-wide student government association for middle schools. “When I got there, what amazed me the most was that students were the ones passing resolutions on real bills in the state legislature and planning out advocacy campaigns to the Board of Education,” she said. “[They were] all things that I had only associated with adults.” 

Her career took off from there, as she got involved in the countywide student government on her own, making friends and connections along the way. “I found a lot of mentors in older students who taught me how to write a testimony, manage a letter writing campaign and meet with elected officials,” Xu said. 

During the pandemic, Xu’s growing interest in public policy intersected with her interest in the sciences to create her non-profit, Compostology, which was founded with her friend, senior Advika Agarwal. Compostology began in 2020 as a small project, but has become a state-wide food rescue effort that, according to their website, has diverted up to 2000 pounds of food waste per school per month. 

Together, they visit various schools around the county and state, meeting students and administrators to implement their program via composting bins and education. In 2022, Compostology worked on Bill SB0124, which was passed in the Maryland General Assembly and by the governor, giving $1.25 million in funding for food waste reduction programs across Maryland. 

Xu cites this as her proudest moment in her advocacy career, not only because of the bill’s passing, but because of the 16,000 students she organized who wrote postcards to their state legislators in support of the bill. “Seeing the support coalesce around an issue that I was personally so invested in was an incredibly powerful testimony to the power of advocacy,” she said.

A year later, Xu applied to be the Richard Montgomery nomination for the United State Senate Youth Program (USSY-P), in which members get to participate in various government sessions happening in D.C. and meet elected and appointed officials at the national level, including Supreme Court Justices for an entire week. To apply, she took a multiple-choice exam on U.S. history and politics and was interviewed by a panel in Baltimore.

“It’s such an incredible opportunity to meet other students who are already making big headways into legislative change within their states,” she said. “I’m in an Instagram groupchat and I’m always amazed by everyone’s accomplishments and passion.”

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This story was originally published on The Tide on February 27, 2024.