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By Roshni Ray, Justice and Legal Thought College Park Scholar
This experience is an experience that I would not trade as I was able to help myself all the while helping others and our future.
The most important thing about interning with MarylandPIRGis that it has been an immensely rewarding experience in many respects, personal and external. MarylandPIRG is a nonpartisan student run activist group associated with University of Maryland, College Park. The goal and statement for this organization is to give students the tools and resources to take action now, advocate for public interest, and ultimately make a difference. This semester there were five different campaigns: MaryPIRG Students Climate Action Coalition (MSCAC), Zero Hunger, Public Health, Affordable Textbooks, and Save our Antibiotics. Through these campaigns, we as an organization were able to focus on different aspects of our future and attempt to solve global issues one semester at a time starting in our very own state, Maryland. I primarily worked with the Zero Hunger Campaign as well as the Public Health Campaign, however, throughout the semester I was able to spend some time with all five of the campaigns.
Working with MaryPIRG matters because throughout the duration of the semester we have had many big and small accomplishments. A couple of our biggest accomplishments was being able to pass a bill through congress and introduce another into congress. The bill that I was more actively involved with through my campaign, Zero Hunger, was the Hunger Free Campus Act. This act will ultimately help food insecure students on campus and provide them the necessary aid that they need to survive. The other bill that was introduced was the FUTURE Act which detailed a plan for all public universities in the state of Maryland, including the University of Maryland, to become carbon neutral by 2035. In addition to these considerable achievements, I have grown as a person and employee. We had to do a lot of phone banking, reaching out to professionals and congress members, hosting events, training volunteers and volunteering in events, all of which immensely contributed to further developing my interpersonal skills. I was also able to become more confident in talking to people I don’t know as well as trying to persuade them to help us out. This experience is an experience that I would not trade as I was able to help myself all the while helping others and our future.
Hi, Roshni!
As someone who worked with MaryPIRG for a time, I was drawn to your poster. But one of the most interesting things about your poster is the conclusions you drew- you don't often see someone say that an experience made you less likely to work in that specific field. I wonder what made that clear?
Hi Roshni, your poster stood out to me because I had heard a lot from MARYPIRG in terms of the advocacy it showed around campus. I believe it's great you got to be part of different campaigns and have your work also be part of helping to pass a bill. I was able to interact with a lot of the measures that MARYPIRG placed in order to reach out and definitely felt like they were effective in encouraging advocacy among the students. Although you've mentioned that this opportunity is not part of your future work, do you believe that this internship has provided you with skills that could help you in other opportunities that may be related to your intended…
Hi Roshni! I was intrigued by your poster because I saw you helped passed the Hunger Free Campus Act and helped with vaccine distribution. Both of these assignments seemed very important and crucial to campus life, and I was interested in learning more about your time at MARYPIRG. Although I have never heard of MARYPIRG, I was fascinated to hear about the work you did there by volunteering at multiple events, phone banking, and creating digital media. I also learned that MARYPIRG is a student run activist group associated with UMD. Your poster was really interesting, but I also wanted to learn more about the act you helped pass. What were the key points and principles set by your law?…
Hi Roshni! Your poster stood out to me because I know that MARYPIRG does a lot of great work on our campus! I didn't know that MARYPIRG helped with vaccine distribution and helping people find vaccine appointments. That's definitely important, since it's not super accessible or easy to navigate for some groups. How do you think vaccination distribution in Maryland reflects the inequality of different groups?
Hi Roshni,
Your presentation stood out to me because I have heard a lot about MarylandPIRG. I know a couple of JLT students in my year are also involved with the organization. It is amazing that more and more young people are mobilizing for causes they believe in. I learned about how you guys passed the Zero Hunger campaign bill! Congratulations! I saw that after this internship you realized you do not want to do activist work in the future, which part made you think that way?