A Question That Refused to Stay Small.
This is the story of a DC high school student who went to a summit, was asked to name the problem worth solving, and did not stop there.
Isabella Getahun
Founder, Civics Remix and RockStars4Impact
Isabella Getahun is a DC resident, a high school junior, and a self-professed student of the humanities who came to AI with a question most people were not asking: what story does this technology tell, and whose story does it leave out?
She did not approach AI ethics as a builder. She approached it as a reader, and what she read in every AI system was the same question literature has always asked: whose story gets told, whose gets erased, and who holds the power to define what is true. That observation became Civics Remix.
The Washington Area Women's Foundation recognized her work in middle school with the Rock Star Award. She took the name seriously enough to build an organization around it. She is the founder of both Civics Remix and RockStars4Impact.
None of it was built alone. The Holton-Arms AI Club showed up. Mikva Challenge gave the civic foundation. Writopia sharpened the voice. Friends, family, and mentors believed before there was anything to believe in yet. That community is not background support. It is the reason the program keeps going.
How we got here.
5 Minute Mentors & the Rock Star Grant
Isabella launches 5 Minute Mentors, connecting young people with mentors for structured conversations about purpose and leadership. The Washington Area Women's Foundation names her a Rock Star Awardee — one of the most meaningful recognitions given to emerging civic leaders in the DC region. She takes the name seriously enough to build an organization around it: RockStars4Impact.
Washington Area Women's FoundationMikva Challenge Fellow · DC Office of the Attorney General High School Advisory Board · RockStars4Impact
Named a Mikva Challenge Fellow, Isabella creates and leads youth-driven social justice initiatives focused on policy changes affecting young people. She joins the DC Office of the Attorney General High School Advisory Board, researching and presenting policy recommendations on youth justice reform to government leaders. RockStars4Impact begins operations.
Mikva Challenge · DC Office of the Attorney General · RockStars4Impact operationalGeorgetown SFS Future Global Leaders Fellowship · Aspen Institute Youth Delegate · Finalist
Selected for Georgetown's School of Foreign Service Future Global Leaders Fellowship, a competitive program focused on global policy and diplomacy. In the same year, selected as a Youth Delegate to the Aspen Institute's Center for Rising Generation Summit. Her program earns Finalist distinction out of more than 60 submissions.
Georgetown SFS · Aspen Institute Youth Delegate · Finalist · 60+ submissionsGeorgetown AI Ethics · Rewrite the Classics becomes Civics Remix · 501(c)(3) registered
A Georgetown AI Ethics course makes something clear: the question of whose story gets told lives inside every AI system ever built. That is not a technology problem. That is a civic one. Rewrite the Classics becomes Civics Remix.
Georgetown AI Ethics · Civics Remix · 501(c)(3)Hershey Grant · Rosa Parks Interactive Novel · First Pilot on the Road to 100
The Hershey Heartwarming Young Heroes Grant funds the program. The Rosa Parks Interactive Graphic Novel launches at novel.civicsremix.org, built by the Civics Remix team and aligned to SOL standards. The first pilot at Naomi L. Brooks Elementary School in Alexandria, Virginia reaches 35 students — the opening chapter of a goal to reach 100 young people by Summer 2026.
“Students were intrigued by the discrepancies between AI generated responses and primary sources, reinforcing the need to consider multiple sources without reliance on technology.” Ms. Felicia Baskin, 5th Grade Teacher · Naomi L. Brooks Elementary School, Alexandria, VirginiaHershey Grant · novel.civicsremix.org · 35 students · 100 by Summer 2026
The question that started this has not changed. The program it produced is real, running, and growing.
The insight that changed everything
“Whose story gets told and whose does not — that question lives inside every AI system ever built. That is not a technology problem. That is a civic one.”
The Georgetown AI Ethics course that turned Rewrite the Classics into Civics Remix.
Transparency
The program is supported by the Hershey Heartwarming Young Heroes Grant, individual donations, and partnership grants from foundations supporting civic education and AI literacy. Civics Remix accepts no government funding tied to political conditions and no corporate funding that requires curriculum changes.
“The room keeps getting bigger. The question stays the same. Join us.”