ABOUT ME
In 2009 I accidentally joined a debate team. As a shy young woman with no interest in grandstanding at a podium, I had no idea what I was doing among peers far louder and outspoken than I. After four years of intense competition on the Public Forum National Circuit, the woman who I had become was completely unrecognizable. Debate gave me an outlet to express my passion for current events around the world and taught me research skills that made me an informed and active citizen.
I believe that global citizenship is a core part of understanding the world, and my passion for comprehensive investigations of current events and global affairs has led me to a life of engagement with public policy and advocacy. I currently serve as the Project, Research & Development Manager at The Harkin Institute for Public Policy and Citizen Engagement, aiding a program which strives to advocate and inform the public and lawmakers of major policy issues. To give back to the community who gave me so much, I work year-round to teach team of debate students at Theodore Roosevelt High School, continuing a tradition of excellence in Speech and Debate. In the time since I graduated from my own debate program I have coached the state-champions of Public Forum in 2015, 2016, and 2017. I serve as the Director of International Relations and Affairs at the National Debate Forum, the premiere institute for Public Forum and Lincoln Douglas Debate in the nation which serves students from around the country. On campus at Drake University, I am the President of the Drake University Honors Program and am captain of the Model Arab League team and president of Student Activist for Gender Equality. I continuously push to expand my horizons and to act as a local leader and advocate for international issues and human rights. Drake University | Class of 2018 | 4.0 GPA
B.A. of International Relations (Middle Eastern Studies Concentration) B.A. of Law, Politics & Society Minor in Spanish Language Studies Certified by the National Institute of Health (NIH) |
You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing, and dance, and write poems, and suffer, and understand, for all that is life." |