Coursework 

SPAA100: INTRO TO CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

I took SPAA100 in my first semester at University of Delaware. It served as my introduction into community engaged scholarship. SPAA100 helped me to understand that civic engagement is not only displayed through volunteering, but can also be performed through research that benefits the community. It stressed the importance of mutually beneficial relationships between universities and the communities they interact with. Colleges have the unique opportunity to give back to neighborhoods they inhabit through research and provide resources a community might not have without the institution's presence. This course helped me to understand my required coursework for Community Engagement Scholars through explaining how both research and volunteering can both be equally as impactful, but even more so when done in conjunction with one another.

UAPP110: CHANGING THE WORLD AND PUBLIC POLICY

UAPP110 was my introduction to the ever-changing world of public policy. In this class we learned the basics of what policy is, how to conduct policy research, and how to write a memorandum. The skills that I acquired in this class have carried over into my other public policy classes and in my fellowship experiences working for the Delaware General Assembly and City of Milford. I am so grateful to have learned how to conduct thorough, trusted research and convey it in a brief, but impactful manner. Below you can find the first memorandum I ever wrote about the state of the Delaware public education system. Many of the critiques on Delaware’s education policy in it still hold true nearly two years later.

HIST318: COLONIAL AMERICA

The purpose of HIST318 is to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the European origins of imperialism that lead to the colonization of the Americas. More specifically this course focused on the development of institutions such as self-government, slavery, and religion in the modern-day United States. My main takeaway from this class was that communities today are still presently influenced by the institutions and beliefs that were held in colonial America. I learned that research on the history of the communities that policy is affecting can be important to understanding their perspectives and can help better inform policy decisions that the whole community can agree on.

UAPP487: STATE GOVERNMENT AND MANAGEMENT

This course provided me with a broad overview of the role that state government plays in the American federal system. We focused primarily on the policy process that state governments engage in, and the role of public administrators and elected officials in it. In nearly every class a guest speaker with experience in state and local government lectured about their role in policy making and about policy problems that were important to the organization they were representing. This class was impactful in that it introduced me to the importance of local and state government. It also gave me the opportunity to see a wide range of career paths that would allow me to make an impact in my community. The term paper for UAPP487 was to explore a policy problem in a particular state. I chose to explore electric vehicle expansion and infrastructure in Delaware, and the final version of that term paper is attached below. As a legislative fellow, I shared research from this paper with the House Minority Caucus to help inform their policy beliefs surrounding electric vehicles.

UAPP472: NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS: SCOPE, FRAMEWORK, AND DYNAMICS

UAPP472 exposed me to a side of nonprofit organizations that most people don’t traditionally see despite regularly engaging with nonprofits. I learned about the Protestant origins of American philanthropy, and how the historical context is important to understanding how the nonprofit sector functions today. In this class we were encouraged to interact with a local nonprofit, and follow it through different assignments, for example analyzing the nonprofit’s 990 forms. I chose to follow Exceptional Care for Children as I already volunteered with the organization. Overall this class has left me with a greater understanding of how nonprofits support the communities they are operating in, and how their interactions with federal, state, and local governments can impact the capacity of the goods and services they provide. It also opened my eyes to what a career working in the nonprofit sector entails. 

ENGL230: INTRO TO ENVIRONMENTAL HUMANITIES

I took ENGL230 to fulfill my 2 credits of coursework that integrates service and academics which challenged me to research a significant environmental problem that our community is currently facing and recommend a solution. I chose to research the over use of mobile devices that has led to a lack of nature connectedness in recent years and how it contributed to negative health trends such as obesity and nature-deficit disorder. I recommended policies that increased the presence of green spaces in urban areas and protected state and national parks that allow for citizens to make more contact with nature which could lead to living more healthy lives both physically and mentally. I presented my findings in the form of a short podcast, which led me to step out of my comfort zone of writing papers and doing powerpoint presentations. I was able to learn how to present information in a new, interesting form of media. In this class, I also read and discussed environmental literature that reflected a variety of perspectives influenced by race, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality. We spent multiple classes outside interacting with nature which was paired with lessons about observing the natural world and learning to articulate our own environmental perspective.

HIST400: HISTORY CAPSTONE SEMINAR, RECONSTRUCTION AMERICA

This particular capstone seminar explores the history of the United States in the aftermath of the Civil War and concluded with us writing a historical research paper that investigated a particular component of Reconstruction through primary sources. The assignments in this course helped improve my analytical skills by teaching me how to interpret primary sources and defend a thesis. I took away with me the understanding that primary sources should shift our argument and aren’t supposed to be twisted to fit a predetermined thesis. This course also helped me appreciate how important secondary sources are when contextualizing primary sources. I learned how to use secondary sources by following their footnotes to find supporting documents both primary and secondary that may contribute to the work that I am researching. In taking this class, I now better understand how institutions and policies created during Reconstruction still have lasting impacts on modern day government policies and institutions. One context of this that I found particularly interesting was when we read about the formation of the education structure in Reconstruction. I could see how Reconstruction era education reforms continue to negatively impact thousands of students today, and influence modern-day policy making. This class opened my eyes to how systemic racism is ingrained in the American government. In the future, I would like to influence policy changes that rescind the power that Reconstruction policies have on my community, and I believe this class has given me the tools to begin to take steps in doing so.