Hi everyone!
My name is Rachel Li and I just finished my sophomore year at Tulane University. I’m a pre-law student majoring in Legal Studies and Marketing, with a minor in Psychology. At Tulane, I’m involved in a number of activities including being the Secretary of Phi Alpha Delta, Tulane’s pre-law fraternity, as well as being a peer mentor for the O, the office of multicultural affairs. I’ve previously interned at the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and at the Public Defender’s Office. I’m committed on attending law school and becoming a lawyer but I do not know what field I would like to specialize in. I’ve taken a variety of law classes at Tulane and I find myself interested in virtually every field I learn about.
This summer, I will be interning at the Environmental Voter Project in Boston, Massachusetts. The Tulane Law School’s environmental program is highly reputable and I’d like to take this opportunity at EVP to see if I have an interest in this particular field. At this internship, I hope to develop a working knowledge of how to analyze qualitative data and human social situations. EVP also provides in-house training courses and correspondence studies that relate to my work.
The Environmental Voter Project’s mission is to identify “inactive environmentalists” and turn them into consistent voters so that politicians will pay more attention to progressive environmental policies. In other countries, the ability to vote is seen as a privilege, not an entitled right. It astonishes me that Americans too, despite our constitutional right, have a tendency to see voting this way as well. Through this internship, I hope first to gain a better understanding of why people do not show up to vote, and then take an active role in contributing to EVP’s efforts to increase this turnout.
Newcomb College Institute strives to “cultivate lifelong leadership among undergraduate women at Tulane University”. This organization understands that politicians listen to voters’ demands because the politicians want to be reelected. Therefore, if more environmentalists turn up to vote, then environmental issues will become a higher priority for policymakers. I believe that EVP’s goal is consistent with NCI’s goal to cultivate leadership. As an intern, I will become part of a movement that will be at the forefront of this change. EVP is nonpartisan and nonprofit; they simply want to make environmental issues a priority for our government and I’m extremely proud to be interning with them this summer.
I’m originally from San Francisco, California so moving to Boston on my own for the summer is a bit daunting. I spent the last month looking for an apartment to live in as well as a part time job that will hire me just for the summer. I’ve never lived on my own before so I think that this summer will really help me grow as an individual.