Engaged learning and leadership plan


Civic Engagement Assistant

I think this experience will contribute to my identity as an Honors scholar realizing the values and qualities that matter most to me because I believe civic engagement is critical for citizens within the United States.

No matter your political affiliation, everyone has a right to have their voices heard. The experience is one of the methods that can help captivate citizens to start to vote and voice their opinions to their representatives.

This experience will connect to my future personal and professional goals because I want to be able to take note of my experiences with civic engagement. I have plans on becoming a lawyer and potentially looking at an elected position in the near future. This experience will impact the college community by creating more civic engagement in one of the counties lacking voter registration and outcomes.

This experience will be a tremendous opportunity for me to progress toward my professional goals in politics. This experience will help me become more empathetic and curious about the world around me as an honors student. Becoming a civic engagement assistant and assisting in voter registrations and information sessions regarding voting rights is essential to being ethical and empathetic. There are many reasons why people don’t vote.

Growth will be a necessary factor as an honors college student. Therefore, this will be able to assist my journey throughout my time at IUPUI. I am planning on doing this next year during the November elections. This experience helps me develop as a communicator, problem solver, and community contributor.

Communicating to all diverse populations at IUPUI is essential in creating an excellent track record of getting people to vote. So it is vital that I improve my communication skills to ensure that I actively get people engaged in voting. As for problem-solving, issues and questions may need to be addressed regarding voter rights and registration. Being quick on the feet when something happens will be critical throughout the experience. As for being a community contributor, this is the embodiment of it. Contributing to the IUPUI community as a civic engagement assistant will help inform the community about future elections and how to get involved on either side of the political spectrum.

Undergraduate Research

I think it would contribute to my identity as an honors student because my values are more focused on being active in my communities. There is something about undergraduate research that allows me to value empirical study and understand how computing impacts us on many levels.

This experience connects to my future academic goals as many research labs within the School of Informatics and Computing. And knowing that this is a school of interest in the split between IU and Purdue makes me even more excited to see the many research opportunities there will be within the world of Informatics.

This experience will help me become who I would like to evolve as an honors student, becoming more intelligent in computing and social informatics. Artificial Intelligence is a big topic surrounding informatics, corporations, and government. Becoming more knowledgeable through research regarding AI will make me more knowledgeable about this topic. I am planning on doing this research, hopefully in my senior year.

This experience will help me develop as an innovator. The world of technology is all about innovation and integration. Knowing and understanding how Artificial Intelligence affects the mass population, and a small percentage of the world will allow me to innovate solutions to how we interact with AI and the user interface that these applications will have to reside.

Government Relations at IU

I think this experience will contribute to my identity as an Honors scholar realizing the values and qualities that matter most to me because there are elected officials that affect local politics beyond the polls. Everything in this world deals with political backing, whether through lobbying, corporate influence, or more. Therefore, it will be critical for me as an honors student to get more experience in this field, as it fascinates me.

I will learn more about the values I want to share with the world. This experience would tremendously benefit my future career in politics. The route that I am taking at IUPUI, some would say, is unconventional. However, as an Informatics major, it is intentional that the lack of robust legislation regarding data governance and the implications of tech giants on the democratic peace in the United States is an area of concern. Speaking on behalf of both sides politically and tech-wise will be highly beneficial in this experience to gain insights into what legislators think.

As an honors student, I want to become more knowledgeable and empathetic about our city. We hear on the news that Indianapolis is a terrible place to live concerning crime rates and quality of life. Therefore, it becomes critical that I know how to engage the various diverse populations spread throughout the Indianapolis area.

Creating a greater understanding of the urban setting that Indianapolis resides in will be critical for any perspectives I try to have when speaking to leaders, legislators, lobbyists, and more. I plan on doing this experience during my junior and senior years at IUPUI.

This experience will help me develop two of the profiles of learning. Firstly, it will help me develop communication skills. Communication skills are critical when speaking to various audiences throughout any political or personal experience. So, it becomes essential that I create this skill throughout to propel me to become a better listener and communicator. Next, this would allow me to develop myself as a community contributor. There are many reasons why civic engagement is community contributing because helping politicians win their races ensures that there is some impact on the environment surrounding them.

Things happen with time, and the skills I am developing throughout this experience will allow me to give back to the community through political activism.

Reflection

Civic Engagement is critical to me. There is something about knowing what is going on locally and nationally that starts to shape our attitudes toward life and also other things. This assignment has helped me understand that the opportunities at IUPUI are diverse and can cater to multiple honors identities. Luckily, I want to become a community contributor and innovator to the surrounding Indianapolis communities and help create a more community-based approach to politics, and not be scared to speak on the many topics that have been deemed controversial with community members.

Andrea Hunley Campaign Intern

I started volunteering for Andrea Hunley for Senate District 46 in December 2021. This experience so far gave me an internship with a colleague of mine, John Spence. It has been a tremendous experience working with multiple campaigns, not limited to the Moed Campaign, Wilburn Campaign, and more. Volunteering in the Spring 2021 elections allowed me to speak with community members around the East side of Indianapolis. Hearing various opinions on the election process, reproductive rights, transportation, and more have been humbling to gain insights into the various perspectives of Indianapolis.