{"id":240832,"date":"2026-02-05T09:10:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T14:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=240832"},"modified":"2026-02-05T09:10:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T14:10:36","slug":"uconn-student-participates-in-panel-on-the-future-of-civic-engagement-in-connecticut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2026\/02\/uconn-student-participates-in-panel-on-the-future-of-civic-engagement-in-connecticut\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Student Participates in Panel on the Future of Civic Engagement in Connecticut"},"content":{"rendered":"

A UConn student leader recently joined state officials on a public panel examining the future of civic engagement in Connecticut, offering a student perspective rooted in hands-on experience with local government\u00a0and policy research.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ryan Engels\u00a0\u201927 (CLAS)<\/span><\/a>, a political science major and\u00a0fast-track MPA student, was one of three panelists at\u00a0<\/span>Forum Encore!\u00a0From Campus to the Capitol: The Future of Civic Engagement in Connecticut<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0a free community discussion held Feb. 3 at the Hartford Public Library. The event followed last week\u2019s sold-out\u00a0<\/span>Connecticut Forum conversation featuring Pete Buttigieg and Jonah Goldberg<\/span><\/a>\u00a0at The Bushnell. Both events were presented in partnership with\u00a0UConn\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>School of Public Policy<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0<\/span>Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy (IMRP<\/span><\/a>).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Moderated by Frankie Graziano of <\/span>The Wheelhouse<\/span><\/a>\u00a0on Connecticut Public,\u00a0the discussion brought together Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas, former\u00a0state senate minority leader\u00a0Len\u00a0Fasano, and Engels to explore how younger generations can reconnect with government and civic life.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Portrait
UConn junior Ryan Engels, a political science major and fast-track MPA student. (Photo courtesy of Ryan Engels)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Engels acknowledged that sharing the stage with long-serving Connecticut leaders was initially intimidating. Still, he emphasized that there are no prerequisites for making a difference.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI tell other young people and students interested in getting involved, you\u00a0belong in these spaces,\u201d Engels said. \u201cIf you have the motivation and dedication to the causes that you feel strongly about, you can make an impact \u2014 no matter your age.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Engels\u2019 participation on the panel reflected the kind of civic engagement the discussion encouraged.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Engels was recently elected as a zoning commissioner in his hometown of Westbrook, where he also serves as\u00a0chairman\u00a0of the Sustainability Committee. He has also completed an internship with IMRP working with associate director\u00a0<\/span>Ken Barone<\/span><\/a>, who serves as project manager for the\u00a0<\/span>Connecticut Racial Profiling Prohibition Project (CTRP3)<\/span><\/a>. As part of that work, Engels helped collect and organize data from Inspector General\u00a0use-of-force reports to inform\u00a0state\u2019s\u00a0attorneys and IMRP on police use of force statewide.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to his public service experience, Engels is an active leader\u00a0at UConn.\u00a0As a first-year student,\u00a0founded the Connecticut Youth Political Advocacy Center (CYPAC)\u00a0in\u00a0his dorm room. The nonpartisan nonprofit focuses on promoting civic engagement and youth participation at the state and local levels.\u00a0Engels has also served as a senator in the UConn Storrs Undergraduate Student Government and as executive vice president of College Democrats of Connecticut.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The panel addressed what speakers described as a growing disconnect between younger generations and government. Engels pointed to the ways social media can sometimes replace direct conversation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYoung people are disillusioned,\u201d Engels said. \u201cYoung people too often rely on social media for their engagement. We can get into the habit of seeing each other as usernames rather than having human conversations. Getting back to having conversations like these is important.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Thomas echoed that sentiment, stressing the importance of encouraging young people to exercise\u00a0agency\u00a0now rather than waiting until later in life.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fasano\u00a0\u2014\u00a0who currently serves on the\u00a0<\/span>Connecticut Sentencing Commission,<\/span><\/a>\u00a0which is supported by UConn IMRP\u00a0\u2014\u00a0added that many traditional entry points into politics lack younger participation. He noted that the average age of town committee members he has worked with is 68.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTown committees are the epicenter for people who want to go into politics,\u201d\u00a0Fasano\u00a0said. \u201cThat\u2019s the quickest place you can make a change, but I don\u2019t see a lot of younger people getting on these committees and putting the time in.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As an example of constructive student engagement, Engels highlighted an upcoming debate between UConn College Democrats and UConn College Republicans at the Dodd Center for Human Rights on Feb. 5.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYoung people can engage in respectful civil discourse,\u201d he said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

IMRP\u00a0director and School of Public Policy adjunct faculty member Andrew Clark brought students from his Public Policy 1001 course to attend the event, reinforcing the program\u2019s emphasis on connecting classroom learning with real-world civic\u00a0engagement.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Georgia LoPresti, a student in the course,\u00a0said she appreciated seeing multiple generations represented on the panel.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe held his own,\u201d LoPresti said of Engels. \u201cAt\u00a0a young age,\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0already doing so much.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0encouraging for other students to see.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At a public forum in Hartford, student leader Ryan Engels \u201927 (CLAS) joined state officials to discuss civic engagement, highlighting how students can play an active role in shaping public life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":240833,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2226,2662],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1858],"class_list":["post-240832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clas","category-political-science"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-11 09:02:07","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240832"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":240837,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240832\/revisions\/240837"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/240833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240832"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=240832"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=240832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}