The Sycamore Institute started in December of 2019 when a group of New York University students got together to discuss the difficulty of breaking into the national security and foreign policy sectors as an undergraduate student. By February of the following year, Sycamore Institute had its first Branch at NYU, comprised of roughly a dozen students. However, only a couple weeks after their first meeting, COVID began to spread throughout the United States, and NYU sent its students home to learn remotely.  While it originally seemed like the idea of Sycamore would have to be put on pause, the pandemic offered a unique opportunity to connect with students across the country facing similar struggles.  Within 6 months, Sycamore spread across the country and was in the process of creating its first 100+ page policy journal.  Cut to almost three years later, and The Sycamore Institute is now comprised of branches at five prestigious universities and has over 120 fellows working tirelessly to make the national security and foreign policy sectors more accessible to students across the country!