A Personal Check In!
What have I been up to?
It’s been a while! Here are some updates!
I am a Junior Summer Institute Public Policy and International Affairs Research Fellow at Princeton University. That’s a mouthful. I am basically doing graduate-level research combining data analysis and systems thinking skills, and taking 2 graduate-level courses in Statistics and Global Systemic Risk.
When we are not in labs, lectures, and research groups, we also get the amazing opportunity to meet with policymakers, professors across the Ivy League network, past research fellows, and international organizations.
It is rigorous, challenging, exhausting, and sometimes overwhelming— however, it brings routine to my day to day, and allows me to meet and work with students across the country. I have been in the program for about four and a half weeks, and have about 2 left.
When I am not “at” Princeton, I am apart of many working groups in collaboration with my home university as we figure out ways to re-imagine how we go forward as a campus community.
COVID-19, institutional racism, and the presidential election will be a few of the defining moments for universities across the nation, and although the work is not fun, I am proud to be working in different capacities to ensure that my campus is living up to it’s highest standards.
Like most people I have been collecting hobbies since the start of quarantine and as of late the big ones have been running (I’m doing the Great Wall of China running challenge- insane I know), lots of cooking and baking (I have been trying to perfect the ‘summer salad’, and have been obsessed with gluten-free and dairy-free pastries—anyone know of good olive oil cake recipe?), and of course, reading and writing).
Drumroll please…….I am entering my final year of college, which means I am prepping for grad schools!!!! Right now there are three schools on the list (Cornell, Denver, and Essex), plus a couple of one-year fellowship options for a possible gap year situation (Carnegie Endowment and PiAf).
If you would have asked me one or two years ago on whether or not I wanted to pursue more education— I would have said no in a heartbeat— however, I understand the value of formulating a skill set that can lead me to living a life dedicated to service on all scales.
I have to dedicate an entire update on Phoebe’s website. Phoebe is great friend of mine from the UK who did her year abroad at my university. She is an American Studies and Law student at Sussex (she also puts milk in her tea).
We took an Immigration Law course together, but the real fun was our shared love for documentaries (she wants to make them one day!). She created a website where she shares what she’s been watching. She has great taste.
I’m applying for a big position at my university, so fingers crossed that I get it! I need all the good vibes :)
A while back I got two new film cameras and I have been playing around with them for about two months. I love how patient and thoughtful I have become, and of course I am lucky to be surrounded by such beautiful nature and people to capture.
For reference I have the Pentax ME Super 35mm SLR and the Nikon EM (with a couple different lens options). I think I will always be a digital camera lover at heart- mainly because I love getting lost in the editing process, but I am always down for growth.
Of course I have been reading and watching so many good things lately. But I’ll leave two books and two documentaries that I cannot stop thinking about: “Realizing Human Rights: Moving from Inspiration to Impact” edited by Samantha Power and Graham Ellison, “Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare” by Frances Fox Piven and Richard Cloward. A friend of mine who is heavily involved in divest work around my university shared a powerful documentary with me called Fertile Ground, and an old internship of mine is featured in a doc called Dead Donkeys Fear No Hyenas, —although it doesn’t provide the full picture— is at the very least thought provoking.