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I hope to attend the Georgetown summer Social Justice and Public Policy academy. The Georgetown summer program is a unique opportunity for high schoolers to experience campus life. As well as learn from Hands-on and exciting instruction. The specific program I plan to pursue is the Social Justice and Public Policy Academy which introduces young leaders to the complex role that social justice plays in public policy. Through this program I will not only receive world class classroom education but will also be able to interact with a policy think tank as well as meet lawyers and politicians that are turning great ideas into law.
My passion for politics started when I realized that by standing up and speaking out I could save a life. In late December of my freshman year, I had a friend confide in me that she was planning to take her life. Due to training I received during my time as a girl scout I was able to support her and get adult help. This help allowed her to start feeling better. I’m proud to say that this friend is alive today and working hard to feel better.
Unfortunately a few weeks later I realized that my training as a Girl Scout was not common knowledge. An 8th grader from my old middle school lost his battle with mental health and took his life. When I attended the candlelight vigil to support many of my younger classmates during this emotional time, I listened to classmates who knew this student much better than myself. One common theme I heard during these speeches was regret, regret that they hadn't taken his ‘jokes’ about wanting to die more seriously or regret that they didn't contact a counselor to get help for their friend. They expressed that they either didn’t know how to go about talking to these adults or they were worried that by reporting their concern that they would get their friend in trouble.
This is when I realized how lucky I was to have the education and support to know how to handle mental health emergencies. I also realized that without this training I might have lost a friend. I realized that had there been more resources and education around mental health and peer-to-peer support we could have stopped this tragedy. So I began talking to advocates and lawmakers on how to improve our schools and our health classes. This put me on a path that eventually led to me talking to Senator Merkley, providing him with several policy ideas, some of which eventually made it into a bill (s.3427) he put forth to help provide more school counselors.
This was my first taste of public policy, and I was hooked. I started going to every school board meeting and listening session I could get myself too. Sometimes I would speak and advocate for mental health and ask questions about what my policymakers would do to improve our schools. Other times I would sit there and listen to everyone's concerns and what they wanted to do to fix them. Due to my constant presence at these spaces, I created relationships with many of my legislators. This brought me to working with my state representative Janeen Sollman on her campaign and eventually in her Salem office. These internships gave me a big taste of what it takes to make it as an effective policymaker.
I have found that it takes a set of skills and a creative outlook to be a good policy maker and I want to develop and sharpen these skills with the Georgetown summer experience.
The program costs $6,358 as a whole, this covers tuition, housing and a 19 meal a week meal plan. Travel to and from DC costs anywhere from $500 to $1000. I also need to provide the additional 2 meals a week that are not provided by the meal plan.
My passion for politics started when I realized that by standing up and speaking out I could save a life. In late December of my freshman year, I had a friend confide in me that she was planning to take her life. Due to training I received during my time as a girl scout I was able to support her and get adult help. This help allowed her to start feeling better. I’m proud to say that this friend is alive today and working hard to feel better.
Unfortunately a few weeks later I realized that my training as a Girl Scout was not common knowledge. An 8th grader from my old middle school lost his battle with mental health and took his life. When I attended the candlelight vigil to support many of my younger classmates during this emotional time, I listened to classmates who knew this student much better than myself. One common theme I heard during these speeches was regret, regret that they hadn't taken his ‘jokes’ about wanting to die more seriously or regret that they didn't contact a counselor to get help for their friend. They expressed that they either didn’t know how to go about talking to these adults or they were worried that by reporting their concern that they would get their friend in trouble.
This is when I realized how lucky I was to have the education and support to know how to handle mental health emergencies. I also realized that without this training I might have lost a friend. I realized that had there been more resources and education around mental health and peer-to-peer support we could have stopped this tragedy. So I began talking to advocates and lawmakers on how to improve our schools and our health classes. This put me on a path that eventually led to me talking to Senator Merkley, providing him with several policy ideas, some of which eventually made it into a bill (s.3427) he put forth to help provide more school counselors.
This was my first taste of public policy, and I was hooked. I started going to every school board meeting and listening session I could get myself too. Sometimes I would speak and advocate for mental health and ask questions about what my policymakers would do to improve our schools. Other times I would sit there and listen to everyone's concerns and what they wanted to do to fix them. Due to my constant presence at these spaces, I created relationships with many of my legislators. This brought me to working with my state representative Janeen Sollman on her campaign and eventually in her Salem office. These internships gave me a big taste of what it takes to make it as an effective policymaker.
I have found that it takes a set of skills and a creative outlook to be a good policy maker and I want to develop and sharpen these skills with the Georgetown summer experience.
The program costs $6,358 as a whole, this covers tuition, housing and a 19 meal a week meal plan. Travel to and from DC costs anywhere from $500 to $1000. I also need to provide the additional 2 meals a week that are not provided by the meal plan.