Meet Lily Milwit ! She is triple majoring in Political Science, Communication, and English. Lily is interested in public policy, education policy/, and human rights law.
Describe yourself and why you wanted to attend the PLEN Conference.
I am extremely interested in global policy and how policy is made on an international level. As a political science, communication, and English triple major, much of my coursework has introduced me to analyzing concepts and ideas that cross cultures and borders and I have become incredibly invested in learning about how people and governments interact and how I can play a role in those interactions. This conference combined all of my interests and gave me the opportunity to hear from people who have careers I am interested in and to meet peers who share my passions. Additionally, PLEN is an organization that promotes women’s empowerment and I knew that becoming involved with PLEN would be a great opportunity for me to empower myself and to hear from women who were proving that women can be influential players in politics.
What were your favorite parts of the conference?
I really loved hearing from all of the amazing women speaker. All of them were so incredibly accomplished in their fields and could offer insight about how to truly make a difference in global policy. Because I am interested in international education the seminar session on global education was especially memorable for me and I loved hearing from the researchers and policymakers about what they were doing to educate children around the world.
Who was your favorite speaker?
I visited the Brookings Institution, which is a policy think tank in DC. This was incredibly beneficial and relevant for me because I am very interested in policy research and am actually working at a similar think tank for an internship this summer. We got to speak with a Project Coordinator at Brookings working on renewable energy and heard about how she ended up there and what her job entailed. It was great to hear about the research side of policymaking since a lot of what we had heard from speakers was about more on-the-ground policymaking. The woman we spoke to was also younger and gave us a glimpse into what working at a think tank might be like in the more attainable future.
What do you hope to never forget?
A lot of these women had traveled all over the world and had amazing advice about how to get involved in international policymaking even while still in college. They all suggested going abroad and working abroad while we could in order to give us opportunities to work in Washington later in life. One of the most memorable speakers was Nealin Parker, the chief of staff for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development who has also worked in international policy in a number of different positions. She explained to us the importance of embracing other cultures and putting ourselves in positions to help people when we could and to take in knowledge and learn every chance we got. She gave us one piece of advice that I hope I won’t forget, especially as I prepare to go abroad for a semester. She told us that for every country we visit, to always make sure we learn three sentences in their native language: excuse me, thank you, and you have a beautiful country.
Why should other students attend a PLEN conference?
This was an amazing opportunity that I can’t imagine I would have gotten elsewhere. The exposure we had to people doing so many different jobs in a wide variety of fields was invaluable and the connections we made not only with the speakers but with one another were great and I hope they will last. PLEN is a very special organization that aims to empower women and show all of us the many possibilities that we have in life no matter our interests or passions. Living in DC for a week was truly great (even for someone who is from Maryland and is working all summer in DC). I learned so much, and all of it was directly correlated to things that I am passionate about.
Does this sound like something you might be interested in? Tulane undergraduate students can apply to NCI for funding to attend PLEN conferences. Email Betsy Lopez at elopez@tulane.edu for more information.
Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.