Political Science Honors Society

Meet the Co-Presidents of Pi Sigma Alpha

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 14:45:57 +0000

Meet the Co-Presidents of Pi Sigma Alpha Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 10/16/2017 - 08:45

Emma Piller

Bailey Parker

Bailey Parker, a senior now at the University of Colorado, Boulder majoring in political science, isn’t ready to stop learning. She has a confident and gracious presence, and loves her major.

“I love CU and taking classes everyday. I’m very passionate about learning and working to establish positive change. We need to see change in the world and I believe that young people are the ones with the capability to do so.”

As one of the co-president of CU’s National Political Honors Fraternity, Pi Sigma Alpha, Parker is highly interested in politics. The fraternity is “a group of like-minded students who are really passionate about political science and get together to have discussions about the political climate, what we’ve been learning in our classes, and how that applies to the world around us,” Parker says. The fraternity will also often invite speakers from different fields to show what a degree in political science can look like in the real world.

“It’s very unstructured. I think we’re all very structured in our daily lives and schedules, so I like to keep things a little more casual,” she says. It’s a great opportunity to get together and talk about politics. To enter the fraternity, students must be juniors or seniors who have completed at least ten hours of coursework in political science, including at least one upper division course. Students must have achieved a B in all political science coursework. In addition, to enter the fraternity students must have an overall GPA that places them in the top one-third of their class.

“Right now it is a very interesting time to be a Political Science major with all the changes that are going on in our world,” Parker says. “I think there’s this misconception that Boulder is just this liberal political safe haven and no one has opposing viewpoints. That is certainly not the case. I’m very impressed by the Political Science Department and our professors’ ability to have political conversations in a way that allows students to develop their own independent opinions.”

Higher education should be an opportunity to open minds and kindle passions. “We’re all so privileged to be attending this University and everyone needs to be grateful and aware of that fact. Students should take advantage of all the opportunities to learn on campus. Use your knowledge become informed and engaged” she urges. “You can use the knowledge you gained at CU to help you make positive changes in the environment around you.”

How do students do this? According to Parker, we must:

“Use all opportunities to learn and expose yourself to different opinions. Be informed, be engaged. If you disagree with something, don’t be apathetic. Advocate for change. We are highly educated, smart, and capable young people, so we all should make use of the resources we possess,” she says with animation. “We are all intelligent, creative, and passionate students, so we must all make use of our capabilities to advocate for positive change in our communities.”

As an aspiring law school student, Bailey Parker is using every opportunity she can to challenge herself and her peers. She is more than prepared for her career ahead, and the department will miss her when she has graduated.

Samantha Jayne

Samantha Jayne, now a Senior at ��ý�Ļ��Ʒ, is majoring in political science with a minor in Spanish. “I’ve always been interested in political science and the government. I guess I was predisposed to it because both my parents were political science majors,” she says. “I remember growing up, they would always have the news on and be talking about these issues.”

“I really love Colorado. For me it’s practically studying abroad,” Jayne says. “[

CU] was the only out of state school I applied to. It looked really good online and on paper. I applied and once I got accepted I came out here and toured and that’s when I knew I had to go here.”

Jayne is both co-president of Phi Sigma Alpha, the Political Science Honors Fraternity, and president of Phi Alpha Delta, CU’s pre-law fraternity. In speaking on Phi Alpha Delta, Jayne says “we’re pretty big. I know the past years we’ve come in second for recruitment.” Speakers come in to talk about their careers in the legal field so it’s a great place to network with fellow students and professionals.

Her involvement makes her active leader while also preparing her for law school. “I’m studying for the LSAT now,” Jayne says. Although she’s interested in family law, she’s still exploring her options.

Her Spanish minor gives her a unique perspective, and she plans on using it in her career. “I didn’t take many language courses in high school. I had to make up my language credits and I enjoyed learning Spanish,” she says. “By the time I made up what would be my third year of a language, I just decided to go for the minor. I think being able to speak Spanish is a really good tool. I love learning another language and being able to apply it. I think it’ll be very valuable when I’m a lawyer and have that reach.”

In studying political science, Jayne recognizes the importance of understanding the world around her. “I think it’s about being informed. It’s about turning on the news and understand the discourse that is going on and being able to follow it,” Jayne emphasizes. “For me, it’s being able to look more with a critical eye and being able to understand what I’m seeing. I just love watching how the different systems work.”

Her advice is to stay informed and stay active. “So many people don’t know how the government works,” Jayne says. “You should probably know how it works,” she laughs.

Jayne sets the example for her peers around her as an engaged student. For more information on Phi Alpha Delta, click here. For more information on Phi Sigma Alpha, click here.

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Alumni return to join new department tradition

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 16:06:30 +0000

Alumni return to join new department tradition Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 02/01/2017 - 09:06

Casey Van Divier

Click here to view photos from the event.

On Jan. 30^th, the political science department hosted the first annual PSCI Alumni Career Panel in HUMN 1B80. The event invited PSCI students to meet CU grads from the department and get a taste of life after college for a political science major.

Wanda James, Chad Harmon, Derek Dash, Christine Spraker, Matt Hirschland, and Keith Edwards told their intriguing and very different stories of the paths they took after earning a degree in political science.

James served in the military, made a career for herself in politics, and is now president of Cannabis Global Initiative.

Harmon imagined he would play professional baseball, but a PSCI degree led him to a career as a wealth manager for A&I Financial Services.

Dash ambitiously applied for an internship in Washington, D.C., to which he was accepted; he now works for U.S. Senator Michael Bennet.

Spraker worked her way up from washing cars to presiding over Matrix Analytics.

Hirschland tried a little bit of everything – even opening up an ice cream parlor – and is now founder and principal of H2A Partners.

Edwards graduated from law school and searched for the right next step; today, he practices law at Hutchinson Black and Cook LLC in Boulder.

Students asked the panel a diverse array of questions during Q&A common topics included finding a balance between work and family, what (if anything) the alumni wished they’d done differently, and the skills employers are looking for in potential employees.

Together, the six panelists came up with this set of advice:

Take risks, and take rejection in stride.
Connect with mentors who will motivate you and help you find opportunities.
Find out what you want to do and what you have to do to get there, and fight to achieve it.

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Meet Molly Boyle

Anonymous — Fri, 18 Nov 2016 15:19:10 +0000

Meet Molly Boyle Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/18/2016 - 08:19

Casey Van Divier

President of Pi Sigma Alpha

For most college students, the highlight of the summer is a big trip, the nice weather, or even just the chance to sleep in now and then. But for CU senior Molly Boyle, something life-changing took center stage in the summer of 2016.

“My husband and I got married in June of this year,” said the political science major. “We eloped, but we’re having a wedding ceremony on our anniversary.”

It was actually her husband’s job that brought them to Colorado in the first place. Boyle previously attended both the School of Visual Arts and Rutgers University, later transferring to Boulder in 2014. She proceeded to join Pi Sigma Alpha, the university’s chapter of the National Political Honor Society, and has since become a co-president of the society.

“To me, it was important to be president so I could get the ball rolling on creating a bridge between political science students and the department,” she said. “My role is building a sense of community within political science here at CU.”

Members of Pi Sigma Alpha are in the top third of their class and have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 in their political science classes. They also engage in the society’s community service activities and biweekly meetings.

“When we have our meetings, a lot of the time we’re not even really working on an event,” said Boyle. “We’re just sitting together chatting about stuff that’s going on that we don’t get time to talk about in class.”

Presiding over Pi Sigma Alpha has been a meaningful opportunity for Boyle to make new friends and develop leadership skills – skills that she’s used to advocate for ‘a particularly important cause’ to her.

“I'm a huge advocate for suicide prevention,” said Boyle. “Just the words ‘suicide’ and ‘depression’ carry massive social stigma, which is why people in crisis are reluctant to reach out for help.” For this reason, she has and will continue to do everything she can in support of this cause.

“I've rallied for suicide prevention awareness by participating in the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention's ‘Out of the Darkness’ community walks, by raising money for suicide prevention, and,” she said, “by using my voice as a mechanism for change.”

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