Meet the new interns!
This summer, four Yale students are joining OPI2 to assist with ongoing projects and bring some youthful energy to the office. In this post, they will introduce themselves and throughout the summer give periodic updates on their progress.
Sofia Gulaid
My name is Sofia and I’m a rising senior Environmental Studies major from Johannesburg, South Africa. Within my major, I’m pursuing a concentration in Urban Studies and hope to work in urban design or city planning. I’m fascinated with how cities can reduce marginalization of different populations and hope to use my career to make cities more sustainable and inclusive. My other interests include migration, food and cuisine, and soccer.
I am really looking forward to this summer working with OPI to become more familiar with how city government works and how we can evaluate Louisville’s progress in achieving its goals. I’m excited to become more familiar with Louisville- through everything from city data to government policy, to its food and music scenes.
So far, we have met all of the staff at OPI and are beginning to hear about the projects that we will be able to contribute to. The projects seem really diverse, from food insecurity to open data, but we are also learning how interconnected different departments are in city government. OPI’s team has a number of different interests and it is a fast-paced and welcoming environment that I’m looking forward to being a part of!
Luke Hellum
Hi! My name is Luke Hellum, and I just finished my sophomore year at Yale College and am majoring in Statistics and participating in the Energy Studies program. I moved around a lot with my family when I was a kid, so I’ve always enjoyed getting to know new cities. Getting to know Louisville will be particularly unique since I’ve never had the opportunity to get to know a city as both a resident and government worker before.
I’m super excited to be at OPI and am so grateful for the opportunity to learn from all of my fellow coworkers. Over the course of the week, my fellow interns and I have met with almost every team member to learn about their role here and potential projects. My big hope for this summer is to work on a project that enhances the quality of life for Louisvillians, deepens my understanding of how city government’s role is evolving due to technological advances, and allows me to interact with a wide range of people. Right now, I’m leaning towards working on a project related to digital inclusion or transportation. Outside of work, I love listening to music and am very excited to learn about up-and-coming Louisville musicians!
Vicky Liu
Bonjour! My name is Vicky Liu and I am a rising junior from Surrey, Canada, double majoring in Political Science and French at Yale University. When I walked into OPI2 for the first time, I immediately noticed the office’s beautiful wide-open spaces and friendly, welcoming faces. I was excited to begin doing fast-paced, meaningful work for and amongst the aces of local government. I will stop rhyming now. In today’s political climate, when there is so much buzz in Washington, I think it is especially important to recognize and celebrate contributions at the local level that most directly affect citizens’ quality of life. I look forward to applying my research skills and interest in public policy, arts and culture, and sustainability to summer projects at OPI2. I am also ready to hone my quantitative ability in this data-driven, analytically rigorous, and intellectually stimulating environment.
John Mori
Good morning! This is John, currently typing at a standing desk and sipping peach and mango-flavored coconut water (courtesy of Daro). Everyone in the office has just been so receptive and welcoming, kinda like the snacks and supplies in the welcome package: sweet, helpful, and sometimes cheesy.
This week, we’ve mainly been meeting the people in the office — getting to know their backgrounds and their role in the office, as well as discussing how we could contribute to their projects. Just from attending meetings, I’ve learned more about metro government these past four days than in my whole life. The office, though relatively small, leads a slew of interesting projects, and I’m definitely going to have trouble choosing a few among them. But hey, that’s a good problem to have.
Sofia, Luke, Vicky, and I will be rotating the blog posts during our time here. Looking forward to reflecting in two weeks. Cheers!
