Why I’m going to policy school
Seven years ago, I decided to dedicate myself to education and the public sector — and here’s how that choice has led me to start a new future this fall.
During my last year at UCLA, I took a course from Patricia Gandara and Gary Orfield on the intersections between education law and policy. Exploring systemic inequities in education, and reflecting on my own teaching and service experiences, I decided to apply to Teach for America, and moved the week after graduation to teach fifth grade at a public school in the Bronx.
It was the most challenging experience of my life. I left the classroom disappointed in myself for not being able to better meet my students’ socio-emotional needs, and at the overarching systems that didn’t seem to be helping my students grow or helping me grow to better serve my students.
I resolved to find another way to shape education, which led me to join Educators for Excellence (E4E), a teacher-led policy and advocacy organization. Years later, when we at E4E were faced with the threat of teachers’ priorities being scuttled from the 2015 Minnesota state budget, I built a simple online tool enabling teachers to email their legislators. The next day, I was relieved to learn that our priorities were maintained — and interested to hear that happened because of a legislator who had been influenced by teachers who made their case with research and classroom experiences. In that moment, I realized the need to couple my desire to serve with the research and advocacy skills needed to effectively persuade decision-makers.
That’s why I made the choice to apply to a program in public policy: because I believe that seeking change — inside or outside of education — requires an understanding of the laws, structures and programs that shape our society, and the politics that put those structures into place.
This fall, I am honored to be starting at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley.
I’m excited to be part of a program that values not just academics but community (with an average graduating class size of 85), to have been supported by current students and alumni who were responsive in answering all my questions, and to have the freedom to fully immerse myself in that community.
I’m eager to be at a school that will challenge me to deepen my understanding of policy, politics and quantitative research (and has been recognized for doing so). I’m happy to be at a public university that delivers an amazing value financially, and I’m hoping that value will enable me to choose a career path in the public interest at a time when the Trump administration has threatened to cut the very loan programs supporting those who work to support others.
My choice of school wasn’t a referendum on New York — far from it. I struggled with the choice of leaving what has become home these past few years. I’m leaving a place that has taught me the values of education, innovation, diversity, community, creativity, faith, love and more. But I hope to bring those values with me, because they underpin the policies our communities and country need.
The 2016 election made clear to me that we all have a responsibility to actively prevent the futures of the most vulnerable among us from being threatened — whether because of race, income, zip code, gender, immigration status or more. I realized that to advance that vision, I need to hone my own skills and experiences, and I’m humbled to share classes with peers who will be united in that purpose.
In a few years, I’m hoping to apply these newfound skills and experiences within the halls of Congress or a state legislature as a legislative leader or advocate. More importantly, I hope to apply them in support the work of educational equity or progressive politics and policy — two of many arenas in which I see opportunities to advance the public good.
It’s the good my parents immigrated to this country for. It’s the good that ensures everyone has an equitable future. Now, more than ever, it’s the good our communities and our country need us to further.
The public good is why I’m going to policy school — and what I invite you to join me in shaping.
