Elina Jadhav

Student researcher · Stone Bridge High School, Class of 2027

Public policy that gives young people a say before new technology arrives.

Published by The Privacy Center at Georgetown Law and the National Policing Institute. International finalist, Yale Politic Investigative Journalism Competition.

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Portrait of Elina Jadhav

“She asked better questions than many reporters.”

Emily Tucker, Executive Director, The Privacy Center at Georgetown Law

Research, writing & policy work

AI, surveillance and the communities that live with it

Featured · The Privacy Center at Georgetown Law · February 2026

Questioning the Normalization of Surveillance

An essay drawn from my interview-based research on how Washington, D.C. policing uses facial recognition, automated license plate readers and real-time crime centers, and why oversight so often arrives after the technology is already in place. Written at the invitation of the Center's Executive Director, Emily Tucker.

Expert interviews: Georgetown Law, NYU, Center for Democracy & Technology

Read the essay (opens in a new tab)

How the work grew

  1. Summer 2025Independent research on AI in policing
  2. Feb 2026Published by Georgetown's Privacy Center
  3. Summer 2026Only high school student on the four-person organizing team for a two-day international conference at LSE, convened with faculty from UC Berkeley and UMD
  4. Summer 2026National Policing Institute research intern; briefed representatives from 30+ police departments
  5. Sept 2026Published by the National Policing Institute
  6. Sept 2026The Yale Politic Investigative Journalism Competition: International Finalist (Top 10 of 1,000+)

National Policing Institute · OnPolicing · Sept 2026

Involving Communities & Youth in Police Technology Adoption

Argues that police agencies should bring residents and young people in before a technology is chosen, drawing on an interview with a senior commander at a large metropolitan agency. The blog typically features perspectives from law enforcement leaders and public safety professionals.

Read the article (opens in a new tab)

The Yale Politic · Sept 2026

Top 10 of 1,000+ entries

The Cloud Has Neighbors

International finalist in the Yale Politic Investigative Journalism Competition. Investigates how Loudoun County’s data-center boom reached residents’ backyards through new transmission lines, and why the county ended by-right approval of new data centers. Draws on interviews with Delegate JJ Singh and Emily Tucker.

Read the essay (PDF) (opens in a new tab) See the results (opens in a new tab)

Loudoun Community Times Journal · 2025 to present

Local policy reporting

Reporting on local policy changes and civic issues, plus “The Six,” a winning creative writing piece to be published in Loudoun County Magazine in fall 2026.

Read “The Six” (PDF) (opens in a new tab)

Virginia House of Delegates · Summer 2026

Intern, Office of Delegate JJ Singh

Supported community outreach, policy research and constituent engagement, analyzed local policy issues and attended meetings with government officials. Selected for the Delegate’s High School Leadership Summit.

London School of Economics · Summer 2026

AI and the Future of Social Welfare

A two-day international conference at LSE, convened with faculty from UC Berkeley and the University of Maryland

I was the only high school student on the four-person organizing team, working under the guidance of the faculty who convened the conference.

In the months before, I researched scholars and institutions working on AI and social welfare and helped with outreach. As planning went on, I sent invitations and follow-ups, tracked registrations and submitted papers, kept the participant and attendance lists, helped arrange hotels and dinners, coordinated moderators, collected presentation materials and helped with the agenda. During the two days at LSE, I handled participant and presentation logistics and helped solve problems as they came up.

At the close of the conference, the faculty presented me with the Extraordinary Service Award. I kept helping with communications and materials afterward, and I’m now helping plan the project’s next stage, a February OECD/AI meeting.

Crystal award engraved: Presented to Elina Jadhav, For Extraordinary Service, Conference on AI and the Future of Social Welfare 2026, London School of Economics, University of California, University of Maryland
Elina shaking hands with Professor Douglas J. Besharov of the University of Maryland, Professor Neil Gilbert of UC Berkeley and another attendee, in front of the projected LSE homepage Elina with about twenty conference participants in an LSE seminar room, in front of screens showing the LSE homepage

“At first, we had thought about recruiting a graduate student at UC Berkeley to assist in managing the conference activities—but Elina so quickly impressed us with her initiative, maturity, and competence that it was difficult to imagine that even a graduate student could do a better job.”

Douglas J. Besharov, Professor, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland
Neil Gilbert, Distinguished Professor and Chernin Professor of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley

Founder · 2022 to present

It Takes A Village

A youth-led nonprofit that teaches students how policy works and helps them act on issues in their own communities. ittav.org (opens in a new tab)

[One concrete example: a student or group who went through a program, the issue they took on, and what they did with it]

Elina, in an It Takes A Village T-shirt, presenting from a podium About twenty students, several in It Takes A Village T-shirts, in front of a Presentation time slide and a whiteboard of project topics

Independent project · 2023 to present

Loudoun Policy Watch

A student-focused, nonpartisan guide to what Loudoun County government is deciding

Following local government usually means digging through hundreds of pages of county documents. I’m creating one place where students can see what the county is actually deciding, with a searchable tracker of county decisions, plain-language policy briefs that lay out the competing perspectives, and short “Why This Matters” notes written for students. Every summary links back to official county records and meeting minutes.

  • Data centers
  • Zoning & land use
  • Schools
  • Transportation
  • Budget & governance
  • Parks & environment
  • Community & safety
  • 74county decisions tracked
  • 6policy briefs published
[Visit Loudoun Policy Watch]
Screenshot of the Loudoun Policy Watch home page: a topic menu, a summary of what the county is deciding with counts of decisions tracked and policy briefs, and a featured decision on ending automatic approval for new data centers
Elina as a young child, smiling and holding a freshly baked loaf of bread in its pan

How I work

[DRAFT FOR ELINA TO REWRITE] I started baking custom cakes in elementary school. A single order can take most of a day, and I don't really know if it worked until the very end. I've come to love that kind of work, where you get lost in the details for hours and trust that it will come together.

Most of what I care about now runs on an even longer timeline. It took years of small events before It Takes A Village reached thousands of students, and my research on AI in policing meant months of reading and interviews before I had anything to publish.

Elina Bakes

A custom cake business I have run since 2018. I handle every order myself, from the first conversation with a customer to marketing, budgeting and delivery, and I was mentored in advanced baking and presentation by Food Network's Sasha Nary.

  • 2018started
  • 450+customers
Tall Fourth of July cake frosted in red, white and blue bands, with piped swirls, sprinkles and a 4th of July topper Close-up of chocolate cupcakes piped with light and dark blue swirls and finished with silver and gold pearl sprinkles Elina beside a two-tier naked cake topped with strawberries and cream, with a hand mixer in a bowl of whipped frosting

Programs & experience

Yale University · Summer 2025

Yale Young Global Scholars

Selected for the approximately 150-student Solving Global Challenges session. Developed a policy project with international peers and served on the program's social media team.

Brown University · Summer 2026

Human Rights and Advocacy in the United States

Debated civil liberties cases and gave a final advocacy speech on AI policing under human rights law.

Leadership & honors