Kristen Lee, a political science sophomore, was selected and honored as a 2009 Tavis Smiley Youth Leader of the Decade. The Tavis Smiley Foundation provides leadership training to youth across America, helping to promote a better quality of life for themselves and their communities.

During her freshman year at Loyola University, Kristen achieved Dean’s List honors, pledged business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi and served as the Professional Chair of her pledge class, participated actively in Loyola’s Society for Civic Engagement, and served as an intern for Loyola University’s Student Government Association.

As a Student Government Association Senator for the College of Social Sciences, Kristen submitted an application that helped Loyola University New Orleans to be selected as one of the ten universities to host the 2010 AAUW Campaign College: Women to Win training session. Campaign College: Women to Win provides college women with the skills necessary to run for student government office and encourage them to later run for an elected government position.

During summer 2009, Kristen participated in The Washington Center Internship Program and Academic Seminars Sophomore Exploration Program. During her tenure in Washington, D.C., Kristen served as a legislative intern at Evergreen Associates, Ltd., a lobbying firm near Capitol Hill and as an intern at the George Washington University Graduate School for Political Management PoliticsUnder30.org project. Currently, Kristen is a Congressional intern at the New Orleans office of United States Senator Mary L. Landrieu (D-LA).

As a sophomore at Loyola University New Orleans, Kristen has remained an active member of Loyola's Society for Civic Engagement and business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi. She has been inducted as the treasurer of the largest undergraduate honor society, Phi Eta Sigma and charges with reinvigorating the university’s chapter that has been dormant since Hurricane Katrina. Kristen has been invited to join Pi Sigma Alpha, the Political Science honor society as well.

Prior to entering Loyola University, Kristen participated in the University of Southern California Summer Seminars and studied Argumentation and Debate and Entrepreneurship as a Wallis Annenberg Scholar. Kristen also studied law and advocacy at the University of California Berkeley through the National Student Leadership Conference.

Kristen has competed on both the local and national level in events such as Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Student Congress, and Extemporaneous Speaking. In her senior year at St. Mary's Dominican High in New Orleans, Kristen was ranked among the top three Lincoln-Douglas debaters in the New Orleans League of the National Catholic Forensic League.

Kristen is driven by Mahatma Gandhi’s call to “be the change you wish to see in the world.”