Liz was a summer-program and school-year student in Junior State of America during high school. She was the Ohio River Valley JSA Governor her senior year and and went on to serve as a Resident Advisor, returning to JSA Summer School at Stanford University in 2011 and 2017. In 2023 Liz became one of three directors for the re-named summer school, the JSA Stern Civics Immersion Program, which continued to be hosted at Stanford through the summer of 2024.

"I loved mentoring students as a JSA RA and Director and helping them grow in their social and academic lives. My JSA experience as a student and staff member has forever fueled my passion for youth empowerment and leadership development. I am proud to have played an important role in helping shape these emerging leaders. Through JSA, I learned from my student and staff mentors how to find and use my voice and how to turn belief into action. My goal with Students for Civic Impact is to continue providing students with opportunities that can help them succeed in their individual goals to positively impact their communities."

In addition to JSA, Liz brings 4 years of teaching and 8 years of tutoring experience—as well as academic, college, and career advising and curriculum writing—to her role at Students for Civic Impact. In her free time, Liz loves reading, painting and coloring, and supporting the performing arts.

As a high school student, Ed was the Chapter Co-President of Elk Grove High School JSA; before that he was the chapter’s Activities Director for events like the county Unified Academic Olympics. Ed also served as the Chief of Staff to the Mayor of the Greater California Region. 

He has worn many hats in his professional career, from matching funds auditing for presidential campaigns, working as a Marketing Director for Kaplan, Inc. to small business consulting. He also served as the President/CEO of the Millbrae Chamber of Commerce.

Ed worked with JSA for 7 years as the Summer Admissions Director and 11 years as the Director of the U.S. Territories and Freely Associated States, in addition to other leadership experiences on staff. Over 500 students from Insular Areas attended JSA summer programs under his recruitment and leadership, including programs he directed at universities such as Princeton, American, and Stanford. As a JSA Program Director, Ed’s favorite accomplishment was working with stakeholders and students from the U.S. Territories and Freely Associated States. “To this day, I am very appreciative of the impact that JSA had on their lives.

Gabriella is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Law and Policy at Northeastern University, with her dissertation focusing on both non-ideological and ideological mass multiple homicides. She serves as the first ever Joint Professor at Kean University in the Departments of Psychology and Criminal Justice, where she teaches specialized courses on mass violence, mass murder, and serial murder within the field of Forensic Psychology. Additionally, she is an Adjunct Professor in the Criminal Justice and Criminology Department at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

During her time in JSA, she served as Chapter President at her high school, Villa Victoria Academy. She also contributed to the New Jersey Regional Cabinet, attended three Princeton Institutes, participated in a summer session at Georgetown University, and served on later staff as Deputy Director of the New Jersey Politics Institute at Princeton University.

Outside of work, Gabriella enjoys expressing her creativity through makeup and exploring different cultures through her love of travel.