What are your main responsibilities at your position? What are some of your big projects? (this can include projects at your internship, your specific CAP project, etc)
This summer I will have an opportunity to work at the USDA in the office of Agricultural Research and Service (ARS). I look forward to committing myself to an internship primarily to understand the inner workings of the ARS office and see the importance of the USDA as a whole. Along with my time there I will be working with Center for Asian Pacific American Women (CAPAW) with other CAPAL interns in order to make a proposed media campaign. Through this project we hope to be able to promote the outreach of young AAPI professional women to get services from CAPAW. Along with reaching this audience we hope to fine tune social media sites for CAPAW and make its service of professional development more accessible to AAPI women.
How does this internship fit with your professional and career goals?
Having an opportunity to be in an office of the USDA aligns with my goal to work in a career of public service. I strive to learn the nuances of how the public can be served and the specifics and nuances of working at a government agency. I was ecstatic to know that I would have the opportunity to work at CAPAL. Being accepted meant I would have an unique ability to be introduced to a career of public service and to do with fellow AAPI youth and professionals. There was no other position that held that much potential for community, solidarity and diversity. Knowing this I was ecstatic to accept the position and start a journey of defining my own relationships with public service and my Asian American identity.
What do you hope to achieve this summer as a part of CAPAL’s 2022 cohort?
During my time with CAPAL I hope to come to have deeper and intimate understanding with my Asian American identity. Having the occasion to be in an environment that is surrounded by all AAPI I feel a grave responsibility to capitalize on understanding the diversity of our AAPI community and building lasting and meaningful relationships. Along with these sentiments I hope to understand the professional world as an AAPI woman and how to navigate it. I have the hope that I am able to learn how to appropriately take up space in professional settings and how to learn and retain valuable technical skills such as data analysis.
What does public service mean to you? What sparked your interest or desire to get involved with public service?
I would think that many professionals in public service have varying definitions of what public service means to them. Personally, I have a great appreciation for the diversity of reasons for going into public service. My interest peaked to align with this field of work when I understood the power of political organization and the power of community. Thinking of my definition of public service I feel the inclination to emphasize the importance of understanding the people we are serving and how they most need help. Public service is about giving voice to the struggles and inequalities of the people and collaborating, fighting for and implementing policies and procedures to nourish the community.