Bridging Divides Through Education: Nina Worley ’26 Awarded Smith Scholarship
June 2, 2026
- Author
- Mary Elizabeth DeAngelis
Nina Worley ’26 believes in education as a powerful tool for social justice.
That belief propelled her to begin a tutoring program for struggling young readers in Davidson; tackle policies that segregate schools across the United States and study the role education plays in post-conflict countries like Northern Ireland.
In high school, she became a passionate advocate for educational equity; centered her Davidson College studies and research around education; and plans a career reshaping the policies that lead to the huge disparities in its quality.
The W. Thomas Smith Scholarship, awarded for academic excellence, leadership, character and community service, will support the next phase of her journey.
In fall, Worley will head to Northern Ireland to pursue a master’s degree in Conflict Transformation and Social Justice at Queen’s University Belfast. She’ll study policy and conduct community-based research to learn what’s worked—or hasn’t—in reforming institutions in a divided society.
“I’m so focused on education, so much begins with that,” she said. “It is an issue that really speaks to me.”
Chris Marsicano, associate professor of educational studies and the Katie ’90 and Stan Humphries ’90 director of the D.G. and Harriet Wall Martin Institute for Public Good, met Worley when she visited campus as a high school senior. Already impressive then, he said he’s seen her continue to grow as a scholar, researcher and leader.
Nina is uniquely prepared for advanced scholarly work on conflict, education and reconciliation. She approaches complex international policy environments with analytical rigor and ethical seriousness that top-tier graduate programs expect—and that the Smith Scholarship is designed to support.
Associate Professor of Educational Studies | Katie ’90 and Stan Humphries ’90 Director of the D.G. and Harriet Wall Martin Institute for Public Good
A New York City Childhood
Worley grew up in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood. Her mom, Irene Mazer, fled Argentina as a teenager to escape a violent military takeover. Mazer is now a clinical psychologist who has devoted much of her career to Latino communities in New York City. Her dad, Gregory Worley, worked in development for NGOs, spending most of his career with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
Music filled her early life. She started singing in a children’s opera choir when she was six, performing in shows ranging from “Carmen” to “Madame Butterfly” to the “Pirates of Penzance.”
She was selected to join the prestigious Manhattan Girls Chorus at 10. Highlights included singing backup for stars such as Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Steven Tyler and Idina Menzel at Carnegie Hall, and Demi Lovato during a giant stadium tour. Worley was most excited about the Demi Lovato gig; her dad preferred The Boss.
“My dad was waiting for me by the stage door at Carnegie Hall when I finished,” Worley said. “He’s a huge Springsteen fan, I think he was a little starstruck. Even better, Springsteen turned out to be a very nice guy.”
She attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts, a highly selective public high school. Besides having top grades, students must audition for a slot. Many go on to top conservatories and professional arts careers. It was there she began questioning the fairness of the district’s admissions policies.
“New York City is home to the most segregated public school system in the country,” she said. “If you don’t have a family member or a guidance counselor who knows the system, it’s very complicated to figure out.”
She joined the student group Teens Take Charge, which worked to change discriminatory admissions policies that furthered school segregation across the city. She founded a program called LaGuardia Outreach, where student volunteers help families from low-income areas and middle schools without guidance counselors navigate the high school admissions process.
“The process rewards people who have money, education and information,” she said. “Unfortunately, there were always students who fell through the cracks. That’s what got me interested in pursuing educational policy in college.
“And Davidson has a strong educational policy program.”
Davidson Leader
Worley came to Davidson as a Belk Scholar and quickly established herself as a leader. She served on the Student Government Association (SGA) her first year. She was class president from sophomore through senior years and chaired the SGA accessibility committee for three years.
She sat on the college’s educational policy committee and was a policy intern at the Center for Racial Equity in Education (CREED), a Charlotte-based non-profit.
She wanted to develop a program for young struggling readers and consulted Rebeca Fernandez, a Davidson educational studies professor and the college’s Writing Center director. Worley teaches Sunday School at Temple Kol Tikvah in Davidson and got permission to use a space there to offer tutoring services. Fernandez provided guidance as Worley and Steve Mirabello ’25 founded Davidson Reads, a children’s literacy program that partners Davidson College tutors with Davidson Elementary School students.
“Nina wanted to build a sustainable program, not one that would fade with time,” Fernandez said. “What impressed me was how quickly she turned vision into action.”
Worley recruited tutors and worked with elementary school educators to match them with students and create a solid plan. That includes establishing leaders in each college class who will take over when the previous leaders graduate.
Twice a week in spring, 15 college tutors pick children up from the after-school program at the elementary school and walk them to the temple for reading sessions. This year, the program expanded, with tutors now also working with children at the Davidson Cornelius Child Development Center during the fall semester.
The Davidson program partners with Read Charlotte, which provides all tutoring materials at no cost.
Nina and the Davidson Reads 2024 team, Steve Mirabello ‘25 & Chloe Killinger ‘27
“Literacy and opportunity are so greatly linked and there are young struggling readers everywhere,” Worley said. “We wanted to provide local families with a free tutoring opportunity to eliminate a cost barrier and to give Davidson students a chance to serve and develop relationships with the local community and expose them to the joys of teaching.
“The relationships the students and their families have formed with their tutors is really special.”
She obtained funding for new culturally diverse books to create a library filled with an array of topics to interest the kids. The program has been incorporated into educational studies at Davidson, and next year, Chloe Killenger ’27 and Riley Light ’28 will lead it.
“Nina leaves Davidson not only having established herself as a student leader but also having equipped the classmates she mentored throughout the literacy initiative to build on the foundation she established,” Fernandez said. “Her work serves as an example all Davidson students can emulate—leadership grounded in service, collaboration and a lasting commitment to helping others succeed.”
Nina at a peace wall in Belfast with the Davidson in Northern Ireland program.
Making Places Better
Worley’s interest in educational policy led her to join the research team of Davidson’s College Crisis Initiative (C2i). Her C2i-supported research on higher education test-optional policies was accepted to the Association for the Study of Higher Education Conference her freshman year. She presented at the graduate-level conference early in her sophomore year.
She spent the summer in between those academic years studying education systems abroad as part of the first cohort of students in the Davidson in Northern Ireland program.
She followed by working the next summer as a policy intern for The Raise the Bar initiative with the U.S. Department of Education, and last year, as a policy intern with the National Education Association (NEA).
During her junior year, she studied abroad in Belgrade, Serbia, with the School for International Training (SIT). She lived with a host family she still keeps in touch with and spent time in Budapest and Vienna exploring the future of democracy in Europe.
She worked on an independent study project that assessed a non-formal peace education program designed to support the peacebuilding and reconciliation process in the Western Balkans.
The program brought students from different ethnic and religious backgrounds together through organized school exchanges. Worley found that students in the program developed meaningful long-term relationships that transcended earlier feelings of distrust and division.
Nina received the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award during Davidson's 2026 commencement ceremony.
A home exchange program paired students through a reciprocal host family model. A student would stay with another participant and their family, and then reverse the situation, which allowed both students to experience each other’s home and community. The students maintained deep cross-cultural friendships with each other, and host families.
“The program was so powerful because it didn’t focus on historical re-education, but more on interpersonal relationships,” Worley said. “The results of other peace education programs don’t usually last for more than six months because students go back to their families and communities and the same biases.”
Students and host families described a transformative experience.
“People who hosted students felt like their family had changed,” she said. “That ripple effect went beyond them and into their community. You can see what’s possible, that education is a powerful method of reconciliation. We can develop some of these pieces for other areas of conflict as well.”
She envisions a career making public educational policy aimed at bridging the social, economic, and political rifts that divide people. Whether her future takes her back to New York City or to a statehouse or to Washington isn’t set, but she’s open to whatever opportunities will help her grow and make positive change.
“I like leaving a place better than I found it,” she said. “I like to feel like I’ve made a difference.”
Hobby of Choice
“I have a fun embroidery hobby. I often embroider things as birthday gifts or just to add some life to an old bag or pair of jeans. My favorite thing is to listen to an audiobook while I do it.”
Nina Worley ’26
The Smith Scholarship competition is administered through the Office of Fellowships. For more information about the Office of Fellowships or applying for the Smith Scholarship, visit davidson.edu/fellowships.
