MY EXPERIENCE
Since I was 16, I have been a waitress. Waking up early to serve others their hot coffee and hearty meal, to working into the night serving overpriced fruity drinks and appetizers, my job has been to serve others. My first job as a waitress lasted 5 years. As the youngest employee surrounded by those with very different life experiences, stories and livelihoods than my own, there was a great deal to learn, listen and understand. With turn over of employees being inherently high in the food-service industry, I met a multitude of people who impacted my outlook on life. I learned how the government, its institutions, programs and politicians shape lives similar to my own, and my coworkers by listening to their stories, hearing their struggles, and their interpretations and opinions about the world around them.
A server's experiences any day of any given week can never be accurately predicted. With serving various numbers of tables a day, there are not too many people I can distinctly remember, but some have had a profound impact on me. One Christmas Eve, working at night, a homeless man asked me if I could give him a free meal and hot drink. On a busy Sunday morning, in the back of the kitchen, my coworkers entrusted me with their fears about new immigration policies and their worry about having to go back to a country they do not call home. In the middle of the restaurant, where tables were focused on their meal, I heard a table tell my coworker to speak English, when my coworker was not even having a conversation with them. In the midst of the Black Lives Matter protests, a customer came up to the only black worker and asked them “if it was weird to feel black now”. I remember my coworkers who served time in jail due to drug abuse and struggled with finding jobs and places to live. I remember questioning minimum wage as I took on more hours to pay tuition and rent while my coworkers lived paycheck to paycheck. Lastly, I remember when the group I was serving called me brainwashed because I was a woman studying political science. It is these experiences that made me constantly question how the government serves those who provide it legitimacy and the interaction between the people and their government.
From listening to other's stories and their thoughts on how the government works, I realized my passion for public service, representation and fairness within our institutions. The first day I was a waitress, I learned to listen, negotiate and understand others' needs- something I believe our elected officials should also uphold. When I was in high school, I thought there was no tangible way I could do anything with my life with a political science degree, but now, I could not imagine my life any other way. Through the journey of my undergraduate career, I will obtain a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in International Studies and Political Science, a minor in History and a Global Scholar Certificate. With a cumulative GPA of 3.69, I dedicate my time to understanding the different development levels of countries around the globe, human rights, national and foreign security policies, public opinion, the creation and implementation of legislation along with much more. At the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, I embraced the opportunity to become liberally educated and well-rounded in major aspects of political science. I expanded my understanding of politics beyond the realm of knowledge the small town I grew up in provided me.
Through my experience, I applied my recently acquired knowledge in political science through various internships and leadership roles on campus, furthering my passion to serve others. For three years, I was an active member on the campus's award-winning Model United Nations team where I studied the art of diplomacy, international institutions, law and development. I recently interned with two Members of the United States Congress, learning in-depth about the legislative process on Capitol Hill, along with aiding constituents and providing necessary information and resources at the District level, and now, concluding an internship which aims at increasing youth participation in local, national and federal elections in one of the most divisive elections of some American’s lifetimes. Finally, I successfully ran, and held the position of the Student Body Vice President where I created my own legislation, negotiated with Administration and other campus organizations, implemented initiatives such as a campus food pantry, all while leading the student body Senate.
When I was 16, the most I could tell you about political science was basic facts about American government and its history. Little did I know, being a waitress would spark my passion and dedication to public service. From the stories of others around me, to the experiences of my own, and the cases I studied, I strive to eventually become an elected official, be the lead director for another who has decided to run for office, or work in a federal department such as Health or State. I want to amplify the voices of others to bolster the integrity of our institutions to advance the standard of living and create an equitable world for all those who inhabit it. The education I received at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh has allowed me to be a proud political scientist in the making awaiting my chance to change the world we live in, but being a waitress is foundational to the young woman I am, and I will continue to listen to others, their experiences and struggles in order to create a world and government that benefits all.
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Artifacts
To fulfill the political theory requirement, I chose the course, “American Political Thought” with Dr. Siermers. I had never taken a political theory course before, but this course was easily one of my favorites during my time in the political science program. This paper was our final paper for Dr. Siemers course and the objective was to find a person in American history and present their thoughts and actions during the period they were most active, and then analyze their thoughts. For this assignment, I chose Ida B. Wells. To approach this assignment, I began by researching Ida B. Wells life, her job, her experiences, and the time period in which she lived. Wells worked for various newspapers and reported and wrote about lynchings that happened within southern states after the Civil War had concluded. While she shined a light on racial injustice that continuously plagued America, she also dedicated her time to fighting for women’s suffrage and equality between women. In order to understand her thoughts and actions, I read her newspaper editorials and one of Wells’s famous books. I earned a B+ on this paper, and I was incredibly proud of myself. I had never studied political theory or written about it, so for my first attempt, this was a success for me. The grade I was given helped me assess my strengths and weaknesses as an undergraduate writer who was in their junior year of the political science program. I chose to include this piece in my portfolio because I believe it highlights my strengths with presenting a set of ideas, but in this case, Wells' thoughts.
This paper was incredibly challenging because you could not reinvent the person who you chose thoughts and you could also not just write a report of things this person believed or did not believe. Analyzing past thought and illustrating the tangible meaning of the thoughts Wells had was a great learning experience. The skills that were aimed to be obtained is the ability to effectively read political thought, analyze political thought, create a thesis that is arguable, and find good sources and cite them correctly.
Finally, I believe this paper could be improved if I was more skilled at omitting words that created wordy sentences. I need to improve on this in order to create a more concise argument.
To fulfill the comparative politics requirement, I chose the course, “European Union Politics” with Dr. Slagter. The assignment was to write a “Politico-style” paper in order to respond to another Politico.EU article about the emerging coronavirus. In this paper, we had to address if we agreed with the article we assigned or if we disagreed. I chose the path to agree with the author’s base opinion, but used different European Union knowledge as evidence for the original authors claim. In this paper, I highlighted the history of the EU in crises to highlight how the institutions could be predicted to react to a modern day pandemic. While agreeing with the author's claim, I attempted to argue different forms of evidence utilizing our textbook, the original article, and other politico.EU articles. I earned an A on this paper, which I was very proud of. I decided to include this paper in my portfolio in order to display a well written upper-level piece of writing and showcase a unique writing style and task I was challenged to figure out.
I learned a variety of skills from this paper and writing process. First, would be the skill of writing a persuasive argument based on another person’s argument. There was no right or wrong answer, but just an illustration of my opinion. I additionally learned the skills of writing meaningful introductions and conclusions while also offering evidence to lead the reader to my conclusions about my thesis. I believe that this is evident in my paper because I carefully place my evidence and use it in the correct places of demonstrating my argument.
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Finally, I believe this paper could be improved by incorporating more statistical data about past crises in the EU. When discussing the economy, I believe there is an important value to qualitative analysis, but I believe that my paper could have been strengthened if there was a quantitative aspect to my argument.
As I concluded my political science major, the capstone course of the program instructed all students to conduct a research paper including a research design. For this course, with Dr. Siemers, I wrote my capstone paper on the relationship between race and healthcare. My research question was, “which change in healthcare prompted by the Medicaid expansion has reduced racial disparities in health outcomes the most?”, with my thesis illustrating, “When examining the state-level implementation of the Medicaid expansion, racial disparities in health outcomes have been reduced due to the increased affordability of healthcare for African American and Hispanic communities, yielding higher levels of healthcare accessibility.” The assignment was created to further challenge students in political science to create a research design to their research question and thesis. For my specific paper, I conducted a single case study of Illinois where I formulated a survey and utilized the Illinois Department of Public Health database, IQuery, to analyze and assess which factor, produced by Medicaid Expansion, reduced racial disparities in health outcomes for Black and/or African American and Hispanic and/or Latino populations. This paper was chosen to be highlighted in my portfolio, because it showcases my final work in political science as an undergrad and highlights the skills I have come to learn and express in my writing and research. This paper also embraces the topics I am passionate about.
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For this paper, I have obtained a multitude of skills. To begin, I learned the skill of how to engage locally and globally with a topic. In order to conduct a single case study on Illinois, I needed to research Illinois health programs, Illinois’s Medicaid expansion implementation mechanisms, and Illinois’s population data. This project also required students to present the research question, thesis and evidence. Through this, I have also learned how to communicate my research effectively. Finally, I have grasped the skill of understanding contemporary politics as health policy, Medicaid and race are huge factors in American politics today.
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Lastly, I believe there were great strides made in this paper. With my limited work in facilitating a research design, I am proud of what I was able to come up with. I believe the flow of my paper is better than my past writings as well due to my experience in writing. If I had to improve on any aspects of this paper, it would be to do a cross comparison of a state with Medicaid expansion and a state that did not choose to expand Medicaid. I believe that this paper would have benefited from an analysis like that. Additionally, I wish I could have interviewed real people to genuinely grasp their experience with race and the American healthcare system.