Personal Contribution

I have completed several projects to date during my internship with Antrim Grace Solutions. I wrote two blog posts, one on ranked choice voting for VOW and the other on biomass that was posted on behalf of AGS.  Ranked-choice voting allows residents to rank their candidate’s in numerical order of preference (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.). In single seat elections, if a candidate receives the majority of votes, then he or she is declared the winner. If not, then the candidate in last place (or the one with the least number of votes) will be eliminated and the votes for that candidate are reallocated to the voters next- ranked candidate. Within this blog post I addressed the benefits and drawbacks of this specific form of voting. In my other blog post I discussed the positive and negative effects of biomass. Biomass is a renewable energy source that is an important aspect of Virginia’s energy solution. Biomass in VA is the plant material used for the production of energy. Both of these blog posts served as informational posts for the public. Its hopes were to educate the public of certain policy and political issues to being to bridge the gap between people and government.  I was given free reign for both of these blog posts and therefore was able to share my own perspectives and observations. However, both of these posts were unbiased and nonpartisan, so they were not meant to sway people’s opinions, but instead educate them.

I have been able to use my insights about leadership in regard to one project in particular. I am writing a legislative proposal for the Special Session that will be held in August. This is an enabling legislation piece that focuses on redistricting legislation and gerrymandering which has been a historic problem in VA. I used specific studies that I analyzed and research that I conducted during my Justice and Civil Society course to help me with this. Because of this Jepson course, I had a background on the negative effects gerrymandering has had on the city of Richmond, and VA and have been able to weave this into the introduction of my legislative proposal.

In terms of my team effort and work and my individual contributions, I believe my insights about leadership have helped me greatly. I have taken the lead on several of the longer-term projects that I have been working on, such as the Client Onbaording Packet for AGS. As a rising senior, I have learned many techniques that effective leaders use, and I have tried to implement these skills and techniques such as supportiveness, communication, and team building, throughout this internship.