Meet Kyle Bright! Kyle is the co-founder of A2E and also a participant in the Aresty Research Program!
What’s your major and what’s your minor?
I’m majoring in economics and I’m minoring in Philosophy and Math.
How did A2E start?
Me and few other people our freshman year were tutoring for Youth Empowerment Services, which is a charity in New Brunswick on George St. One day the head of the charity was telling us about how some schools in New Brunswick have no after school program. To us that was crazy, especially considering that the New Brunswick is a district with very low graduation rates and in a town with 40,000 undergraduate students as a great resource. So we decided to create a tutoring program where kids could get tutoring after school 4 days a week.
How is the program set up this semester?
This semester we’re in Roosevelt Elementary School. Some days we have 1 to 1 tutoring and some days 1 to 2. But all the kids are in different classrooms and they’re grouped by reading levels. The tutors have books to choose from for the kids for all different levels. The kids spend time doing activities, learning how to read, and getting help with their homework. There is also a snack for the kids everyday. We’re always looking for more tutors!
What is your Aresty Research?
I’m doing mine with the Eagleton Institute with Professor Ruth Mandel. Originally we were researching the effects on gender and how the media covered Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. The idea was that after the election we would research how the media covered the transition of the first female president and how gender played a role. Of course that didn’t happen. Instead, now we are researching the Trump transition. I’m creating a spreadsheet on Trump’s appointees and their demographic information. This includes their race, their age, where they went to college, what state they’re from, what industry they come from, whether they were in the military, and also if they held previous positions in the government and what those positions were. I’m also doing this for past administrations like Obama, Bush, and Clinton. We plan to compare the information collected so we can see if Trump’s administration is actually more white and more male than the past and what the actual numbers are when it comes to diversity.
You’re also involved in Model UN?
Yes! Model UN is housed under RUAIR, which manages several clubs. In Model UN we practice and run simulations which could be anything from a modern day Indonesian Presidential Cabinet to 1800s East India Company to a Star Wars Committee. You create your own alternative reality where you pass laws and resolutions.
Celebrity crush?
Maybe Emma Stone. Maybe Natalie Portman.