Three U graduate students won a national policy competition in March.
The three students, Anna Brower, Clare Tobin Lence and Laura Briefer, won the competition with a policy on young people between the ages of 18 and 25 and low employment rates at the Policy Solutions Challenge competition in Washington, D.C. on March 22. The students were asked to look at the policy process and then redesign a program and address youth employment more adequately.
“Hopefully teammates wouldn’t be mad with my honesty,” said Brower, a graduate student in public administration. “It was a lot, a lot of work.”
The students first competed at a regional level against USC’s team in Los Angeles. The group thought that the best-case scenario was taking second place.
“We actually did a really good job,” Brower said.
After winning first place at that competition, the students moved on to the competition at a national level against American University and Florida Atlantic University. They had four weeks to “cram” before the competition, Brower said. For the competition, the students were required to complete a 10 page policy report and a 15 minute presentation.
Lence, a graduate student in public health and public policy, said they asked themselves “Why is it a problem?” and “What are the underlying factors?” They found that the unemployment rate is higher among young people and are more likely not to work in a field having to do with their college degree.
Through research they decided the best policy to fix this problem would be to expand existing programs and open them up to young people. The students settled on three different programs — an apprenticeship program, career academies and micro-enterprise.
Rather than an unpaid internship where young people get a taste of a career, an apprenticeship program is paid, and employers are more likely to invest in the participants.
Lence said evidence shows the effectiveness of career academies, which are schools within high schools focused on certain careers. These academies center on “soft skills,” such as being personable or professional, for students planning on going to college or getting a job directly out of high school.
A micro-enterprise is a small business. Lence said young people are creative and flexible, and micro-enterprises do not expect “fancy” businesses. This option would be good for people who are “self-starters.”
“Our hope is that something like that would reach people,” Lence said.
The students presented first at both the regional and national competitions. Brower said this was good because they were able to relax while watching the other teams. Brower said she did not expect to win, but she felt like they earned it.
“We worked hard enough to get a big trophy,” Brower said.
Thad Hall, a director and professor in the U’s Masters of Public Administration Program, said “[Winning] shows we have excellent students who are really good at understanding how policy works.”
[email protected]
@emiliedeeann