Neleigh’s experience with the 2024 plen public policy seminar

By Neleigh rush

This January (2024) I was able to travel to D.C. to experience the Public Policy seminar presented by PLEN. This seminar was a great experience for me. Going into this event I was very unsure of what to expect but the moment I got there I felt that I could accomplish anything. The PLEN staff was so welcoming and supportive which made the experience so much better. You could immediately tell how much they cared about the program, the people, and you. It made me feel that I was going to benefit from this experience and I definitely did. 

The reason that I wanted to go to the seminar was because I was lost in what I wanted to do as a career. Going to this seminar my main goal was to learn more about job opportunities and career paths in the field of public policy. I was able to learn about the many opportunities that are out there from the amazing panelists. All week we heard from amazing people that are working in public policy. Since we had so many different perspectives I was able to learn that there isn’t just a direct path into public policy and that there are more opportunities than you could possibly imagine. While the seminar was able to showcase the many different opportunities there are in public policy it also gave me a better understanding of what I wanted to do. 

In addition to the amazing and accomplished people that we heard from we also got the opportunity to practice and improve our communication and networking skills. We did this through many different activities but the one that stood out the most to me was the diplomatic simulation. This allowed us to use our communication skills with our peers. This was a really cool and realistic experience that brought people together and out of their comfort zone. I truly enjoyed this simulation and it was one of my highlights of the conference. 

Something that I also enjoyed was being in D.C. The experience of just being in this amazing city was truly one of the best parts. For most people in public policy D.C. is the dream at least that is what I feel most people think. This conference gave us the tools to be able to see the city and experience just for a short period of time what D.C. life would be like. During the conference, we had the opportunity to adventure out after the panels and day activities. This allowed for me to connect deeper with my other conference-goers and learn more about D.C. first hand. As someone who is not from the D.C. area I really appreciated this opportunity that the conference gave me. 

Overall, this conference gave me confidence and tools to pursue a career in public policy. I was able to learn about many diverse paths into the career field of so many different people. PLEN allowed me to connect closer with people that are in a specific field that I am passionate about which brought me even closer to my own career goals. PLEN also gave me the tools to be able to go out into public policy or really any career. We learned more in depth about how to negotiate salaries, how to make your resume stand out, how to network, and so much more. All of these skills and experiences helped me so much and I could not be more thankful for the opportunity to experience it all because of PLEN.