Summary
Work History
Education
Skills
Accomplishments
Timeline
Generic
Nikhil Gupta

Nikhil Gupta

Austin

Summary

Dynamic co-founder and Director of Content at Capitol Flashlight, I excelled in research analysis and political writing, exposing governance corruption through impactful articles and community interviews. My leadership in managing social media significantly enhanced our outreach, while my public speaking skills engaged diverse audiences in critical political discussions.

Work History

Publications Chair

High School Democrats of America - Austin Chapter
- Current
  • Directed and managed all publications for my local chapter of the High School Democrats of America.
  • Pitched ideas to make content more relevant to the current sociopolitical landscape.
  • Stayed updated with news and publications in major national news outlets to provide fresh, new, student-based perspectives.

Co-Director of Economics

Viseur
- Current
  • Directed and managed economics content at Viseur.
  • Edited articles, pitched new and engaging ways to spread information.
  • An online service dedicated to spreading political science and economics content to high schoolers.

Co-founder and Director of Content

Capitol Flashlight
  • Co-founded organization to expose corruption in local, state, and federal governance through in-depth research of major political issues.
  • Hosted interviews with local community leaders, teachers, and students about infrastructure developments in our localities, as well as new legislation to increase community perspective on local politics.
  • Published several articles to draw attention to corruption in local governance.
  • Helped manage and develop social media accounts to optimize our platform’s reach.

Policy Debate Captain

  • Ranked #8 internationally by the National Debate Coaches Association.
  • Conducted in-depth research on macroeconomics, foreign policy, patent law, and healthcare to support debate preparation.
  • Coordinated activities through meetings for team of 25+ competitors, enhancing team collaboration.
  • Hosted both group and private sessions to mentor novice debaters each week.
  • Increased program outreach by developing connections with local middle schools, promoting debate participation.

Assistant Editor-in-Chief

  • Helped direct content for school newspaper, winning multiple awards at the state and national level.
  • Managed opinions section, enhancing coverage of political events and amplifying student activism.
  • Developed marketing strategies for newspaper website, optimizing staff coverage and visibility.
  • Mentored new editors of newspaper sections through one-on-one peer meetings.
  • Created presentations instructing younger program members on effective newswriting techniques.

Novice Coordinator

  • Mentored young incoming debaters in our school’s debate team on effective oration, policy research, and complex debate concepts such as negation theory and Aristotle's modes of persuasion.
  • Offered coaching both in-person and remotely to several of our novice teams at local debate tournaments.
  • Coached novice team that would go on to win our school’s novice debater team championship.

Education

High School -

Westwood High School
Austin, Texas
05-2027

Skills

  • Research analysis
  • Political writing
  • Public speaking
  • Team leadership
  • Event coordination
  • Written communication
  • Advertising
  • Staff recruitment

Accomplishments

  • J.W. Patterson Fellow - Award for the top 14 juniors in policy debate nationally. Highly competitive, top 0.1% of young researchers, orators, and policy writers in the nation.
  • Tournament of Champions Semifinalist - Indicates top 4 performance in policy debate nationally, highlighting impressive policy research and speaking skills.
  • Interscholastic Press League Award for 3rd Best Opinion Column in the state of Texas - received award for my work writing about a series of ICE protests at our school and their impact on the local community, as well as the importance of student activism.
  • Received Best of Student Newspaper Online Award for high acheivement in opinions writing.

Timeline

Publications Chair

High School Democrats of America - Austin Chapter
- Current

Co-Director of Economics

Viseur
- Current

Co-founder and Director of Content

Capitol Flashlight

Policy Debate Captain

Assistant Editor-in-Chief

Novice Coordinator

High School -

Westwood High School
Nikhil Gupta