Brief
In late 2011, I was nominated by an adviser to be a participant in UC's Policy making team for the Ohio Student Education Policy Institute (OSEPI). OSEPI is a program through the OH statehouse that engages college student teams from across the state to draft and present policy changes to the current Ohio educational system. We began work in January 2012 and prepped for 4 months before heading to Columbus to compete against teams from Ohio University, Ohio State University, University of Akron, and a second team from University of Cincinnati. My groups policy won the competition, and as the groups delegate, I had a chance to present it to the Senate Finance committee on the second day of the conference.
My Experience
In November 2011, I was nominated by my honors adviser to the UC OSEPI (Ohio Student Education Policy Institute) Team. By the beginning of January, our team had been selected and split into two groups. The first group was to focus on college preparedness of high school students while the second group focused on the removal of standardized testing from college entrance criteria as it relates to minority groups. With five people per sub "team", it was difficult to fully encompass everyone's varied ideas for the policy, but soon group number one, my group, had focused our attentions on the relatively long term process of college admissions; namely, course tracking, funding, and proper educational or career advising. Below is some of our original brainstorming:
We quickly realized the broadness of our topic and decided to be even more discerning in our suggestions for the State Legislature. After modification, the goals that remained were as follows:
1.) Overarching Goal: Redefine "college education" to include career development and retraining. This is a societal change needing decades of effort.
2.) Specific Action ONE: Development of a "Work Force Exploration" program. This would require advisers heading into high schools from freshman year on to discuss with students the wide array of possibilities available to them as the contemplate life post high school graduation.
3.) Specific Action TWO: Development of a Public Awareness campaign that would expose young students to the variety of educational institutions available to them. This would include trade school, vocational school and community college as well as a parallel campaign to address the redefinition of college to include the above meaning.
These goals, while seemingly small, would yield large changes in Ohio Education, workforce and overall society:
- The inclusion of vocational and trades schools as well as community colleges in the term "College" would reduce the stigma of such paths, thus allowing more students to put themselves on the most appropriate path.
- Putting more students on these paths would allow companies and businesses find appropriate candidates with necessary training and allow university students the ability to focus on the highest level of academic achievement.
- These policies also aim to reduce student loans by reducing the number of years spent in "college" and allowing quicker return on investment for the students that choose month long to 2 year training.
- the reduction of student loans increases quality of life and financial security, thus allowing (in theory) a boost in the economy.
- The influx of qualified candidates for certain jobs not requiring a university degree would hopefully prevent the exodus of students from their home state of Ohio and attract even more people into the state.
After writing the first draft, re-writing it, submitting it for edits by UC faculty, presenting it once to community members and then re-writing it another two times with an aide to Senator Widener, chair of the Education Committee, we were ready to present to the OSEPI panel. I was the spokesperson, and despite my nervousness, our proposal won the nomination (against teams including OSU, OU, and Akron) to be presented to the Education Committee.
The following day, our team headed into the committee chamber and presented our proposal. We then fielded questions from the senators about varied details. To be honest, that hour went by in a blur. I was nervous, excited and tired (having been up til 2:30 in the morning re-writing the policy one last time. Another reason I shouldn't be a politician I suppose - those pesky deadlines.) After finishing, we headed back to Cincinnati, but did hear some follow up from Senators interested in pursuing our ideas. Since May, I haven't heard much on that front, but I have hope that even if my name isn't on it, I might see a bill or policy passed that reflects our policy's ideals.
1.) Overarching Goal: Redefine "college education" to include career development and retraining. This is a societal change needing decades of effort.
2.) Specific Action ONE: Development of a "Work Force Exploration" program. This would require advisers heading into high schools from freshman year on to discuss with students the wide array of possibilities available to them as the contemplate life post high school graduation.
3.) Specific Action TWO: Development of a Public Awareness campaign that would expose young students to the variety of educational institutions available to them. This would include trade school, vocational school and community college as well as a parallel campaign to address the redefinition of college to include the above meaning.
These goals, while seemingly small, would yield large changes in Ohio Education, workforce and overall society:
- The inclusion of vocational and trades schools as well as community colleges in the term "College" would reduce the stigma of such paths, thus allowing more students to put themselves on the most appropriate path.
- Putting more students on these paths would allow companies and businesses find appropriate candidates with necessary training and allow university students the ability to focus on the highest level of academic achievement.
- These policies also aim to reduce student loans by reducing the number of years spent in "college" and allowing quicker return on investment for the students that choose month long to 2 year training.
- the reduction of student loans increases quality of life and financial security, thus allowing (in theory) a boost in the economy.
- The influx of qualified candidates for certain jobs not requiring a university degree would hopefully prevent the exodus of students from their home state of Ohio and attract even more people into the state.
After writing the first draft, re-writing it, submitting it for edits by UC faculty, presenting it once to community members and then re-writing it another two times with an aide to Senator Widener, chair of the Education Committee, we were ready to present to the OSEPI panel. I was the spokesperson, and despite my nervousness, our proposal won the nomination (against teams including OSU, OU, and Akron) to be presented to the Education Committee.
The following day, our team headed into the committee chamber and presented our proposal. We then fielded questions from the senators about varied details. To be honest, that hour went by in a blur. I was nervous, excited and tired (having been up til 2:30 in the morning re-writing the policy one last time. Another reason I shouldn't be a politician I suppose - those pesky deadlines.) After finishing, we headed back to Cincinnati, but did hear some follow up from Senators interested in pursuing our ideas. Since May, I haven't heard much on that front, but I have hope that even if my name isn't on it, I might see a bill or policy passed that reflects our policy's ideals.
So What Did I Learn?
There are not words enough in my brain, much less space on this page and patience on your part, to fully explain all I learned through OSEPI. So I will as succinctly as possible enumerate the most important lessons of this experience.
The number one skill gained from this project was my new found ability to RESEARCH. And research thoroughly. When proposing a policy to the Ohio State Legislature, one tries to be as original as possible. As such, we had to research all past bills, other states efforts in these areas and the budget we were working on. Not one of these things was easy and it took months to even get an idea of what was before us. But those research skills have proved useful since then, especially as I work on my senior capstone project and even research potential careers.
I also glimpsed the pure chaos and might I even say, trickery and behind the back goings on of the state house. Even being there two days, I was absolutely astounded by all that occurs in those walls. People talking about people, things being bargained in subtle tones while the politicians were at lunch with us, and aides running everywhere - knowing everything, and using it to their advantage. I say all this not to insult the politics and people in the state house but to illustrate the mood within. I can't explain what I heard of tell you what was said and why, but I can say that to be a politician you can't be weak of heart. Everyone knows that already I suppose, but seeing it first hand was fascinating.
And lastly, I learned that I love policy, and hate politics. I want to effect change, and specifically change in the world of education, but I have NO desire to be involved in the face to face politics of the house floor. While exhilarating, it was obvious to me how much trading and bargaining had to be used before any decision could be reached. In short, it was extremely ineffective, and for me, that's not the best way to approach an important area like education. I haven't figured out exactly how I intend to make my mark, or even how, but since OSEPI, I've made it my business to keep up on each new turn and adjustment in education on both the federal and state levels.
The number one skill gained from this project was my new found ability to RESEARCH. And research thoroughly. When proposing a policy to the Ohio State Legislature, one tries to be as original as possible. As such, we had to research all past bills, other states efforts in these areas and the budget we were working on. Not one of these things was easy and it took months to even get an idea of what was before us. But those research skills have proved useful since then, especially as I work on my senior capstone project and even research potential careers.
I also glimpsed the pure chaos and might I even say, trickery and behind the back goings on of the state house. Even being there two days, I was absolutely astounded by all that occurs in those walls. People talking about people, things being bargained in subtle tones while the politicians were at lunch with us, and aides running everywhere - knowing everything, and using it to their advantage. I say all this not to insult the politics and people in the state house but to illustrate the mood within. I can't explain what I heard of tell you what was said and why, but I can say that to be a politician you can't be weak of heart. Everyone knows that already I suppose, but seeing it first hand was fascinating.
And lastly, I learned that I love policy, and hate politics. I want to effect change, and specifically change in the world of education, but I have NO desire to be involved in the face to face politics of the house floor. While exhilarating, it was obvious to me how much trading and bargaining had to be used before any decision could be reached. In short, it was extremely ineffective, and for me, that's not the best way to approach an important area like education. I haven't figured out exactly how I intend to make my mark, or even how, but since OSEPI, I've made it my business to keep up on each new turn and adjustment in education on both the federal and state levels.