What inspires you to work in public service?
Community is incredibly important to me. Groups, cities, and societies thrive only when people care about and support one another. I want to help everyone within my reach; I want to contribute to strengthening community bonds and neighborly support. Public service is imperative for the success of communities and helping others is essential to living a rewarding life.
What is your major, and do you have any minors or specializations?
Major: Public Policy Analysis; specialization: Data Science; minors: Spanish, Computer Science
What coursework or academic experiences have most shaped your interests in policy, leadership or public service?
I thoroughly enjoyed the Public Policy Analysis course I took from the John Glenn College of Public Affairs. This was the most quantitative, statistics-heavy public affairs course I have taken. It was very interesting to see how the technical skills I had learned from the statistics and computer science classes are applied to public management and research topics.
What specific skills or experiences do you bring to your internship?
I have an analytical and technical background uncommon to my public affairs program. From my experience with coursework and internships working with data management and visualizations, web design, statistical analysis, and user experience research, I bring an approach centered around data science and literacy to everything I do.
What strengths do you most rely on when collaborating with others?
When it comes to collaboration, I often find myself relying on the leadership and interpersonal skills I learned through my time as a first-year peer leader for Ohio State's orientation program.
What are your career goals and how do you hope this fellowship will support your professional journey?
I would like to have a career where I can contribute my talents to serving the public. There are so many ways to do this and while I am uncertain where I will end up, I know every experience helps me discover what I am interested in. I worked in development and stewardship at the John Glenn College of Public Affairs, which led me to pursue an internship in fundraising in DC. I am incredibly excited to learn more about the world of non-profit fundraising and discover whether I want to further pursue this field. It involves a combination of data management, communication, and relationship building which I am interested in. I am also interested in public service websites and communication and research that informs policies and decisions.
What is your favorite or most impactful project from a previous role?
I have enjoyed all opportunities to use my favorite statistical programming language, R, in professional roles. I have created statistical reports in R as well as programmed live, interactive dashboards. It is always fun to pull out this technical skill that not all public affairs students and professionals have.