Former United States representative Beto O’Rourke participates in the NextGen Hot Ones Event on Friday, September 11, 2026, at the University of Houston. | Gillian Wisniewski/The Cougar
With more than 500 voter registrations recorded this fall, NextGen UH is working to make political engagement more accessible to students through voter outreach, campus partnerships and interactive events.
Founded in 2025, the student-led, non-partisan organization has nearly doubled its first-year voter registration total while encouraging students to become more informed, engaged and involved in political conversations.
NextGen UH president and co-founder Olivia Rodriguez said the goal of NextGen UH goes beyond increasing voter registration. Rodriguez hopes to help students who feel disconnected from politics recognize the importance of their participation.
“There are a lot of people at UH that feel that they can’t really tap into politics,” Rodriguez said. “Because they don’t feel informed enough, and they don’t feel like their voice or their place actually matters.”
The organization’s beginnings trace back to Rodriguez’s participation in the Student Government Association’s Emerging Leaders Program during her freshman year.
Through the program, Rodriguez became involved with NextGen America, a national organization focused on encouraging political participation among young people.
As part of its student leadership program, Rodriguez learned about campus organizing and voter outreach and later collaborated with students Cameron Lanier and Donya Oufi to organize an early campus tabling event that encouraged approximately 50 students to pledge to vote.
The group subsequently partnered with UH’s Office of Sustainability for an Earth Day event, where they announced plans to establish NextGen UH.
“We have such big dreams. We’re going to do this. We’re so excited,” Rodriguez said.
The organization’s mission became making political information accessible to students while encouraging them to form their own opinions.
“The main goal of NextGen UH is to inform people,” Rodriguez said. “Inform UH students in the most simple, non-threatening way possible in a non-partisan way.” To accomplish this, the organization has incorporated entertainment and interactive activities into its outreach, including a Hot Ones-style event featuring former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke.
The event combined political discussion with a hot-wing challenge, allowing students to hear firsthand from O’Rourke in a more informal setting.
Rodriguez feels that the event reflected the organization’s effort to make political conversations more approachable, particularly for students who may otherwise avoid them.
“We want to make sure that politics isn’t threatening, people don’t steer away from it,” Rodriguez said.
The organization has worked with the SGA on voter education initiatives, including a Know Your Ballet event featuring local candidates and information about elections.
Other campus organizations that NextGen UH has collaborated with include fraternities and sororities, as well as community groups such as Powered by People and Mi Familia Cota. Rodriguez believes that these partnerships help the organization reach students from different backgrounds and encourage political participation across campus.
NextGen UH has also organized themed voter registration drives to make the registration process more engaging.
One initiative, Voter Palooza, featured eight officers hosting individual registration drives with themes and gifts ranging from Christmas decorations to snow cones and Hershey’s Kisses. The three-week initiative resulted in more than 100 voter registrations, according to Rodriguez.
Now, as NextGen UH looks beyond the 2026 midterm elections, Rodriguez says that the organization remains focused on helping students engage with political issues and develop independent perspectives.
“We want them to see an issue, be aware of the issue, then create their own opinions on it and analyze it for themselves,” Rodriguez said.
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