In my family public service is a career that my father, many uncles, and grandfathers have chosen. With having a grandfather that was a captain on the Boston Police Department and a father and two uncles who followed in his footsteps public service is a career field that has seemed unavoidable. I’ve grown up in West Roxbury where most of my friends from school and sports have parents who are either police officers or firefighters and it seems like public service has followed me around since I was just a kid. When I first found out about the Ward Fellowship I didn’t really know much about it other than the fact that I worked with a sponsor who was in the public service field and most sponsors being representatives, senators, judges, and other influential people in the state of Massachusetts and also the country. I wanted to apply because I was very interested in seeing public service from the other end of the spectrum and I wanted to see how public policy was created and how the state government operates. So far my experience has been great and even though I have been working for only a week I’ve seen so much happen such as the denial of a bill by the governor that my office drafted and voted on, and also a press conference that took place right outside of my office. I can tell that this summer will be a very rich and rewarding experience for me and an experience that I will look back on in later years and I will be happy that I decided to apply and take part in the Ward Fellowship.
I’ve lived in West Roxbury my whole life and I am attending UMass Amherst in the fall, growing up in West Roxbury has been a true privilege for me and ever since I was 8 years old playing little league I’ve been surrounded by so many people who support me and want me to accomplish my goals no matter what they may be.
Throughout my academic career math was a very challenging area for me and always slowed me down. I worked very hard with a tutor for four years to try and get better and in between hockey and baseball practices I would do extra work to get better at math. I believe this challenge, although minor compared to some of the challenges many of my classmates and co-workers may have faced really helped me become more determined and focused on accomplishing my goals.
The last couple years I’ve been thinking about what it is I want to do with my life beyond high school and college, I’ve been leading towards law and public service and the Ward Fellowship has really solidified my career choice because many of the people that I’ve met so far have been lawyers that decided to go into politics to try and make a change with all of the knowledge that they’ve gained in their undergraduate studies and their studies in law school, graduate school, or whatever it may be. So far this summer has been a great experience and I have only been working for two weeks, I know that these next six weeks will be an eye opening experience and show me first hand what working in public service is about and really motivate me to work hard for the next four years in college and the years after that in either graduate school or law school and then pursue a career in the public service field where I can help people make life better for myself and also my family.