Elise Wilson ’26

Elise is a senior majoring in Political Science and minoring in History, with a focus on American political behavior and 20th-century American social history.

She currently serves as the National Chair of the Women’s Caucus of the College Democrats of America (CDA), directing CDA’s National Reproductive Justice Council and mobilizing college-aged voters nationwide to defend the rights of women and gender-expansive communities. Committed to advancing gender and health equity, Elise previously served as a Global Ambassador for The Pad Project and as an executive board member of Girl Up New England, where she promoted menstrual justice through education and service. Inspired by her semester abroad in Copenhagen studying comparative health policy, she founded The Youth Health Policy Institute to enable high school and undergraduate students worldwide to publish health policy research and advocate for solutions to global health inequalities. At Wellesley, she serves as Co-President of PERIOD and is a Chair for both the Political Science Majors Council and Wellesley’s Political Scientists of Color (PSOC). In summer 2025, she interned at the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia as a Wellesley in Washington Fellow, supporting alternatives to juvenile incarceration and contributing to rehabilitative legal services for youth facing mental health challenges and survivors of child sex trafficking. After graduation, Elise plans to pursue further political and legal work in D.C. or internationally before attending law school, as she aspires to build a career championing the civil and human rights of women and people of color.