Spotlight on Student Experiences – Kasia Rada, Washington D.C.

Kasia Rada is working toward a Masters in Public Policy with a concentration in international security and economic policy. She is currently interning with the Council on Foreign Relations.

This spring, I interned with the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in their Civil Society, Markets and Democracy initiative. As soon as I saw the job announcement, I knew it was a perfect fit. They were specifically looking for someone with a Middle East background and language experience. For me, it was a great opportunity to tie these skills with my previous work on civil society and free market issues. The only problem was that they wanted someone 20 hours a week. Already a graduate research assistant on campus, I knew that it was unrealistic to undertake one more job with a full course load. The most I thought I could contribute was 10 hours. For that reason, I almost didn’t even apply.

Fortunately I had received some great advice from the Careers office – don’t limit your own options, but let someone else do that for you. If the position is something you’re interested in, then it’s already worth applying for. If the organization wants you, they’ll work with you to make it happen.

Sure enough, that’s how everything panned out. Fortunately, the Council thought I was just as much a fit for them as I thought they were for me. I was so excited about the gig that I planned to drop down the three classes to make it manageable. When that solution fell through, my supervisor at CFR graciously worked around my school commitments, letting me cut a couple hours and do some tasks from home. Sure, it’s been a lot of work and there were definitely a few stressful moments. But there is nothing I would do differently if I had to do this semester over again.

My experience at the Council has been amazing. I’m routinely reading the news (which I love doing anyway!) and composing research memos for the fellow I work with. I love being involved in a broader research agenda that I know will continue after I leave, and it’s fun to see statements in the media and know I helped behind the scenes. I’ve also assisted with implementing roundtable events, which are really great opportunities to meet experts in the field and hear healthy critical policy discussions. The coolest roundtable by far was one with the first official delegation to the United States of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party. That experience has helped form some of my research goals for when I return to Egypt this fall as a Boren Fellow.

Thinking back to when I first looked at the job advertisement, I shudder to think what an experience I could have missed. It would have been so dumb of me to not apply for a perfect-match job just because I felt disqualified by the hours requirement. I encourage others of you to learn from this too. It’s worthwhile to at least put yourself forward and let the employer decide whether the hours matter more than your qualifications.

Basically, you don’t get what you don’t try for.

Spotlight on Student Experiences – Britney Rashleigh, Washington D.C.

Britney Rashleigh is a graduating 2012 MPP Candidate specializing in International Development. She is currently interning in the Office of White House and Congressional Affairs at the National Endowment for the Humanities.

As a Congressional and White House Affairs intern at the National Endowment for Humanities (NEH), I draft factsheets and one pagers for congressional dissemination, assist in the implementation of events highlighting NEH grants and host information sessions for congressional staffers. Additionally, I have been given the opportunity to branch out and spearhead the planning of an environmentally focused event, to be broadcast from the White House, screening clips from the Ken Burn’s documentary ‘THE DUST BOWL,’ which will air nationally on PBS in late Fall. Furthermore, I am organizing an emergency preparedness workshop for congressional staffers, providing them with information on NEH grant programs that could be of benefit to their constituency. I learned about this internship through the weekly MSPP Career Connections and, after applying, started in late January.

Since entering the MPP graduate program here at University of Maryland, I have also interned with the Center for Law and Social Policy, One Economy Corporation, and Friends of the Global Fight. In doing so, I have been able to supplement my academic coursework with hands-on experience. At each of these positions I have monitored and commented on congressional legislation, conducted issue related research and assisted in the development and formatting of materials for presentation and publication. I have composed memos, receiving feedback and further honing my memo writing skills and assisted in data analysis, expanding my quantitative analysis abilities. I have managed large databases and gained grant writing experience, coordinated outreach activities and have attended several conferences and congressional hearings, gaining further insight into the inner workings of non-profit organizations and the government.

My success in each of these positions was a direct result of the skills I learned at the School of Public Policy. MSPP’s emphasis on strong written communication and quantitative research skills along with its constant reminder of the importance of being diligent and maintaining a go-getter mindset has provided me the tools necessary to excel. As a graduating MPP candidate, I am confident that my time here at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy was well spent. Having the ability to learn from leaders in the field and access to all the internship opportunities that metro DC has to offer has truly been valuable. I emerge confident in my memo writing and policy and statistical analysis skills and ready to make my contribution to the policy world.

Spotlight on Student Experiences – Elma Sakian, Sri Lanka

Elma Sakian is a 2012 MPP Candidate specializing in International Development.  She spent part of last summer in Sri Lanka as a CIBER Fellow.

In June 2011, I spent 2.5 eye-opening weeks in Sri Lanka contributing to a student-led business-consulting project with USAID in conjunction with the Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER), the Robert H. School of Business, and, of course, the Maryland School of Public Policy.  Other students from the MSPP community included Rob Coyner, Steve Lannen, and Cynthia Osueke.  I am incredibly grateful for the support, both moral and financial, that I received to purse this unique opportunity gaining such substantive field experience alongside my peers.

I was motivated to apply to this program through CIBER because I had just begun considering a career in development.  I wanted to participate in a short, development-oriented project as a kind of “litmus test” to gauge whether I would like to pursue this field further.

In partnership with two wonderful MBA students, I was assigned to work with an aquaculture company, Aqua ‘N Green (ANG), evaluating their supply chain and marketing strategies, and providing recommendations.

ANG is an aquaculture firm producing high-quality seafood, and maintaining a highly sustainable business model.  ANG operations incorporate opportunities for economic and social value creation in the conflict-affected areas of Sri Lanka.  It is aimed at equipping farmers with the skills and technologies necessary to efficiently produce seafood and eventually become self-sufficient.

Much of our time in-country was spent based out of the capital city of Colombo on the west coast, working at the ANG headquarters in Negombo, about 40 kilometers to the north.  We also spent 4 days in the lesser-developed port city on the east coast, Trincomalee, which was highly affected by both the thirty-year civil war that ended just two years ago as well as the Asian Tsunami in 2004.

Verdict of the litmus test:  After the overwhelmingly fulfilling work and inspiring interactions that I had in Sri Lanka, I am eagerly continuing preparations for a career in international development.

My only regret:  I learned so much while in-country, but I wish that I had taken Dr. Besharov’s course on Policy Analysis and Evaluation prior to my departure, so that I could have applied that knowledge to our analysis of ANG’s initiatives!

Special thanks to Taryn Faulkner, Assistant for Admissions and Student Affairs, as well as of Bryan Kempton, Director of Career Services and Alumni Relations, who were essential in my decision to pursue this international opportunity.  A further thanks to Katie Taylor, Student Affairs Coordinator, for helping in the appropriate conveyance of the experience on a resume!

Spotlight on Student Experiences – Christina Parrish, Washington D.C.

Christina Parrish is a 2012 MPP candidate with a dual specialization in Social Policy and International Development.  She spent her summer interning with the Washington D.C. Deputy Mayor’s Office for Planning and Economic Development.

During the summer of 2011, I applied to be, and was chosen as, an intern with the Washington D.C. Deputy Mayor’s Office for Planning and Economic Development.  The Maryland School of Public Policy’s Career Services made this opportunity possible and the coursework I took during my first year at the School truly enriched my experience as an intern.

One of the first things that I did within my first couple of months at the Maryland School of Public was schedule an appointment with Katie Taylor, Student Affairs Coordinator with the Office of Career Services and Alumni Relations, to discuss how to strengthen my resume and cover letter and make myself more marketable in the policy world.  Although I worked full-time for two years before beginning the Public Policy program, I still had a lot of room for growth in learning how to market myself, specifically in the public policy arena.  Her advice was both helpful and useful which was made obvious by the amount of interviews and offers I had for internships for the summer of 2011.  After interviewing, I received offers from the Maryland Office of the Lieutenant Governor, Youth Service America and the D.C. Deputy Mayor’s Office for Planning and Economic Development.  All of this was made possible by a strong resume and cover letter, and of course, by using the School of Public Policy’s career services portal which has an incredible listing of internship opportunities.  That is where I discovered the D.C. Deputy Mayor’s Office internship opportunity.

My course work was vital in my experience as the human capital intern for the New Communities Initiative under the Deputy Mayor’s Office for Planning and Economic Development.  I was responsible for overseeing, throughout the summer, eleven small Community Wellness and Youth Development grantees, including DC Scores and Metro TeenAids, who were receiving funds from a Community Development Block Grant.  A number of courses became practical in my day to day operations at the Deputy Mayor’s office including Intro to Policy Analysis, Public Management and Leadership and Foundations of Social Policy, to name a few.  The skills I learned regarding program evaluation were invaluable as I was tasked with creating a grant close-out report for the smaller grantees and was a part of their program evaluation and grant renewal process.

Without the Office of Career Services, both the assistance it provides and the opportunities it encourages students to be a part of, and without the course work of my first year at the School of Public Policy; my Summer 2011 internship experience with the D.C. Deputy Mayor’s Office for Planning and Economic Development may not have been possible and definitely, would not have been as enriching.

Spotlight on Student Experiences – Kristina Thorsell, Washington D.C.

Kristina Thorsell is a 2012 MPP candidate dual-specializing in International Security & Economic Policy and International Development. She is currently interning with the Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights, and Law Program (SRHRL) at the American Academy for the Advancement of the Sciences (AAAS), in Washington D.C.

As an undergraduate, I majored in Chemistry and Biochemistry. I assumed that I would pursue a PhD in the sciences until I spent a summer working full-time in the laboratory. While my lab experience was valuable in more ways than one, I didn’t think that working in the lab was the right direction for my career.

I always had a passion for international relations and human rights. So, I started looking for a field that would allow me to merge my seemingly divergent interests. I somehow came up with the crazy idea that a policy degree would allow me to interact with the scientific community while working on international policy issues. It turns out that my idea was not as crazy as it first seemed. Over the course of my policy education, I have learned that policy and the sciences overlap in countless ways and the career opportunities are endless.

I am currently interning at AAAS where I am expected to apply both my policy and my science backgrounds to every project that I work with. Starting my first week, I was researching the science behind various policy issues and writing memos that reflected my findings. While my science background was important to understanding the materials that I was reading, my recent policy training was just as important.

The Maryland School of Public Policy (MSPP) prepares its students for professional careers. We learn how to write effective memos, how to communicate clearly, and how to identify the key points that need to be brought to the forefront in the decision making process. MSPP definitely gave me the tools that I needed to be successful in this internship. I do the exact same research and writing for AAAS that the professors require for courses at MSPP.

I am currently working on a project that involves preparing a report for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to better inform their upcoming decisions on how to address the atrocities associated with LGBTI discrimination in Latin America. I am also working on an Article 15 project that involves analyzing transcripts from focus groups that were held with professional science organizations. Article 15 is a part of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which establishes human rights principles associated with discovery and enjoyment of the benefits of science. The end goal of this project is to determine the true meaning of Article 15 and present our findings to the United Nations.

Both the content of the lectures and the coursework required at MSPP have been directly applicable to countless aspects of my internship at AAAS. At orientation, the Dean of the School of Public Policy told us that his goal was to give us the tools that we would need to be successful in our careers. At the time, I didn’t realize the extent to which every aspect of my experience at Maryland would be applicable to working in the real world.

Spotlight on Student Experiences – Laurelyn Foderaro, Washington D.C.

Laurelyn Foderaro is a 2012 MPP candidate specializing in Social Policy. She spent this summer working with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) office of Refugee Affairs, Asylum and International Operations (RAIO), in Washington D.C.

This past summer I began my work with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) office of Refugee Affairs, Asylum and International Operations (RAIO)—an agency and office under the umbrella department, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).  My internship with the Asylum Operations division was sponsored through the USCIS Summer Enrichment program and lasted from May until August.  I was able to extend my work with the office at the end of the summer, however, by working with the office to create a position for me through the Student Career Experience Program (SCEP) that will make me eligible for a non-competitive conversion to a career position upon my graduation in May 2012.

Asylum in the United States is a legal status guaranteed and outlined within the Immigration and Nationality act and is granted based upon a well-founded fear of persecution on account of one’s membership in a particular social group, political opinion, religion, nationality and/or race.  In the United States, individuals who apply for asylum affirmatively present their case to one of a number of USCIS Asylum Offices throughout the country and are either granted or deferred to a defensive process within Immigration Court.

The office I was working with—Asylum Operations at RAIO Headquarters—is in charge of operating policy for all the Asylum Offices throughout the country and the review of certain cases adjudicated by the various offices.  Specifically, my job was to review and write determinations on asylum cases which were initially granted by one of the Asylum Offices but later were flagged for review of suspected fraud based upon adverse information gathered after protection was granted.

While the technical experience I needed to do this kind of evaluation was gained from my work with the United Nation’s High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Women’s Refugee Commission of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) prior to returning to graduate school, the opportunity to work with the Federal Government and eventually receive a SCEP position was a direct result of attending the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy.   Through working with the Office of Career Services at the school, I was able to gain an understanding of how to obtain: first, a summer internship with an agency within my field; and second, how to negotiate a contract for a student position that will convert to a career position upon graduation.

I am grateful to the School of Public Policy and the Office of Career Services for providing me the knowledge needed to take the next step in my career.

Spotlight on Student Summer Experiences – Matt Southerland, Washington D.C.

Matt Southerland is a 2012 MPP candidate specializing in International Security and Economic Policy. He spent his summer interning in the Office of East Asia at the U.S. Department of Treasury in Washington, D.C.

This summer I interned in the Treasury Department’s Office of East Asia. My work included making charts of economic indicators, and monitoring economic developments in the region. I also translated and summarized Chinese-language news articles. I learned a great deal about the economies of East Asia, and the department’s role in US economic policy. Treasury’s East Asia office is a fantastic place to intern.

This internship opened my eyes to the broad range of roles that the Treasury Department plays. During the summer I attended brown bag lunches hosted by Treasury’s Office of International Affairs (which includes the East Asia office). The lunches featured individuals from the various regional and functional offices who talked about their jobs and issues in international economics. These events were very informative.

Interning in the Treasury Department was a great opportunity to build upon my economics coursework in the School of Public Policy and to see firsthand how these concepts are utilized on a daily basis in the world of international economic policy.  It also strongly complemented my work as a graduate assistant for Ambassador Susan Schwab on issues in international trade and globalization.

I am grateful for the support that I received from the Robertson Foundation for Government, and the Harold Rosenthal Fellowship in International Relations in pursuing this internship. This experience will help prepare me for a job in the federal government after I graduate.