Context
In early 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic began to form, I wrote an op-ed for my local paper focused on my experiences during that time. While attending school, working as a political consultant in a majorly contested election year, and witnessing my mother serve as a top physician at our local hospital network, everything was going crazy at once. I attempted to capture those sentiments in this op-ed as well as encourage readers to stay strong and vote.
The Morning Call Op-Ed: How coronavirus upended my college and political worlds
Reflection
I appreciated the opportunity to harness my leadership skills within in this op-ed. Knowing many individuals in the education, political, and healthcare sectors, I did my best to respect their interests while also inspire them. During the trying times that was 2020, I witness great pain, but also triumph. When I was asked to write an op-ed, I moved to write on these topics because I knew that so many were hurting and looking for something to give inspiration to move on. I did my best to gear my experiences as to the reader by harnessing their interests and needs, while focusing on the greater good/goal: voting. This was a great opportunity to harness my leadership and writing skills.
Course Writing Sample
This is an essay I wrote for the course WRTG-362. As our final research paper assignment, students were asked to write a paper regarding a topic of their choice. I decided to dive into the many arguments related to privacy with political data. I am majoring in Data Sciences for Political Science at American University. Something that I have explored and considered is both the lack of privacy of political data as well as the lack of awareness of availability of political data on the voting population. I attempted to explore the various niches of the debate on the topic and bring my perspective to the debate. Read the full version HERE.
2020-2021 Social Action Project
During the 2020-2021 academic year, as part of the SPA Leadership Program, I researched a social issue of interest to me and then developed and implemented a social action project to attempt to address the issue. I ended up researching the inequities between public and charter school systems. I found that the issue came down to funding structures, and thus knew that the issue will likely take a groundswell of advocacy efforts. In turn, my social aciton project was devoted to raising funds for the Coalition for DC Public Schools & Communities. This group advocates for public school families and teachers across the District of Columbia, and seeks to foster communication and cohesiveness between all public school stakeholders. They strive to create a better environment for all sides. Read more on my work during the 2020-2021 academic year HERE.
Reflection
In COVID times, fundraising was hard, even for an organization that does such meaningful work. I think what I learned the most through this project and the requirements that leadership brings with it is valuing the support that you end up receiving, no matter how large and small. I set an ambitious goal at the beginning of this project, had to lower the goal, and still was not able to raise to it. That being said, I am still proud of what I was able to do during these trying times. The funds will still go a long way to support the work of an organization that does a lot for the community in Washington, DC. That is what I have to focus on rather than the meeting of fundraising goals. I learned a lot from others in this respect who were also planning and implementing social action projects this year. I am proud of not only what I was able to do to combat issues I identified in my research, but also proud of the similar work done by the rest of my peers.
