2024 Summer Intern
Carly Ryan Cairns is a rising fourth-year student at the University of Chicago completing a Bachelor’s in Political Science & Human Rights, with a minor in Classical Studies, and a Master’s in the Social Sciences, with a concentration in History. She is originally from Phoenix, Arizona, and attended the Gary K. Herberger Young Scholars Academy at Arizona State University. She is thrilled to be back in her home state during this crucial year, working to elect candidates and garner support for measures that will secure our fundamental, reproductive rights. Throughout her educational career, she has been interested in the intersection of law, politics, community organizing, and healthcare. Much of her time is spent as a member of the Chicago Abortion Fund Movement Building Cohort volunteer, where she enjoys creating political education materials, fundraising for wrap-around healthcare costs, and building power for the pro-abortion majority. She is also the Co-Chair of Women and Gender Minorities in Public Service under David Axelrod’s University of Chicago Institute of Politics, where she works to equip her peers with the tools to put their political passions into action. Over the next year, she will be completing her Master’s thesis on the political motivations of free gynecological services led by Chicago’s social movements in the 1970s. In her free time, she enjoys participating in theater, running on Chicago’s lakefront or hiking Arizona’s trails, and cozying up in a cafe with a good book. After graduation, she hopes to pursue a post-baccalaureate pre-medical program, ahead of applying to medical school.Â