MIC Award Winner Provides Free Research Training

Grace Liu turned her passion for academic research into an opportunity to help underrepresented populations have access to that same content.

Liu, a student at Syosset High School in Syosset, N.Y., created Research to Empower (ReTE), a nonprofit organization that makes free research training available to all students – particularly students from underrepresented backgrounds.

Liu’s efforts earned her the $5,000 second prize in the Bill of Rights Institute’s MyImpact Challenge. This civic engagement contest encourages students to develop service projects that benefit their communities and advance constitutional principles such as liberty, equality, and justice.

ReTE offers free in-person and virtual classes and resources to help students develop research skills. Since 2022, the organization conducted events reaching 41 school districts in 21 countries and works extensively with the Long Island (N.Y.) community.

Liu’s organization also received support from companies like Google and Microsoft, and she received a Daily Point of Light Award from Points of Light, a foundation started by former President George H.W. Bush focused on volunteerism.

“Every young mind deserves the opportunity to discover their passion, develop critical thinking skills, unleash their innate creativity, initiate research projects, and apply their knowledge to address real-world needs in their community,” Liu wrote in her MyImpact Challenge essay.

Visit the ReTE website for more information.