The Wilson School announced the 12 students named to the 2019 cohort of Scholars in Nation’s Service Initiative (SINSI) on Tuesday, Feb. 12. Four current seniors were named graduate scholars, and eight juniors and sophomores will be interns.
The mission of SINSI, founded in 2006, is to “set outstanding individuals on the path toward public service careers in the U.S. government … through academic training that is integrated with work experience in federal agencies.”
According to its website, SINSI emerged in response to the fact that the “need for talented and committed men and women to enter public service has never been greater.”
Maya Aronoff ’19, Julia Herrle ’19, Jared Lockwood ’19, and Parker Wild ’19 were admitted to the SINSI graduate program. The graduate program involves two components: a two-year Master’s program in public affairs with a full-tuition scholarship in the Wilson School, and a two-year fellowship with an executive branch department or agency, according to the press release.
Aronoff is a Wilson School concentrator from Mason, Michigan, pursuing a certificate in the History and Practice of Diplomacy. Her focuses have included immigration, gender-based violence, and human rights, and throughout 2017 and 2018, she worked with the NYC Anti-Violence Project, which provides legal representation to LGBTQ+ asylum seekers and refugees.
Aronoff hopes to become “an asylum lawyer, work in accountability for gender-based violence, or litigate for an organization like the ACLU,” according to an email statement to The Daily Princetonian.
For her work rotation, Aronoff explained, she is considering working with the FBI on gender-based violence.
“The FBI investigation that exposed Larry Nassar went to trial in my hometown, and inspired me to try and learn more about investigative techniques and federal legal frameworks when it comes to sex crimes, sex trafficking, and violation of the rights of children and families,” she wrote.
Herrle is also concentrating in the Wilson School, hailing from Wexford, Pennsylvania. Her passions lie in global food security, particularly the relationship between food insecurity and conflict. In the summer of 2018, Herrle interned in the Secretary’s Office of Global Food Security at the U.S. Department of State as the SINSI Intern Class of 2018 Frank C. Carlucci ’52 Scholar.
In a statement to the ‘Prince,’ Herrle expressed her gratitude for the experience working on “global food insecurity policy with passionate, motivated people,” and looks forward to exploring “other parts of the government” in the coming year.
Lockwood, a politics concentrator from Hallsville, Missouri, is pursuing a certificate in Japanese Language and Culture. In 2018, he was Princeton in Asia’s Osawa Fellow and his primary academic interests have been security policy, Japanese foreign policy, and the international relations of East and Southeast Asia.
Lockwood did not immediately respond to request for comment from the ‘Prince.’
The last of the four Graduate Scholars, Wild hails from Brunswick, Maine, and is a senior in the computer science department. He has designed an application that “strengthens electoral accountability by enabling constituents to easily contact their representatives,” according to the Wilson School press release.
In a statement to the ‘Prince,’ Wild explained that he could not have imagined being given this opportunity as a junior.
“The breadth of academic interest and prior experience within the SINSI community alone is inspiring,” he wrote.
The 2019 SINSI interns range in academic departments from Operations Research and Financial Engineering (ORFE) to Slavic Languages and Literatures.
Leora Eisenberg ’20, a student from Eagan, Minnesota, is currently studying abroad at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. In the summer of 2018, she interned at the Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia on a Streicker International Fellowship.
Eisenberg expressed her excitement about interning at the U.S. consulate in Almaty, Kazakhstan in an email statement to the ‘Prince.’
“It's so hard for people like me — those interested in Central Asia, and particularly Central Asia-US relations — to get to that part of the world,” wrote Eisenberg. “And SINSI is making it possible for me.”
Eisenberg is a senior opinion columnist for the ‘Prince.’
Adam Beasley ’20 is concentrating in the Wilson School and is pursuing an Urban Studies certificate. In the summer of 2017, Beasley worked with a nonprofit in his hometown of Dallas to create an awareness campaign documenting poverty in northern Texas. He feels “honored and excited to be a part of the 2019 cohort,” according to an e-mail statement.
Micaela Keller ’20, a politics concentrator from Ann Arbor, Michigan, spent the previous summer working with Princeton University Preparatory Program, a college prep program that works with low-income high school students in Mercer County. In an email to the ‘Prince,’ Keller anticipated a huge impact on her “life perspective” as a result of this experience.
Hugo Myron ’20, a Daly City, California, native in the politics department, feels he will have “a lot to learn and a lot to contribute” at his internship in the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Education, according to a written statement to the ‘Prince.’ His primary interests lie in the “intersection between education disparities, race, and the government’s role in facilitating educational equality,” according to the Wilson School press release.
James Packman ’21 is a prospective Wilson School major and a graduate of Princeton in Beijing’s intensive fifth-year language program. According to the Wilson press release, Packman hopes to become involved in U.S.-China relations “to address the issues of nuclear weapons, climate change, and human rights abuses.”
“Powerful change requires powerful actors, so I hope that this experience will help me affect real positive change,” he wrote to the ‘Prince.’
Meghan Slattery ’20 hails from Bayport, New York, and is an ORFE concentrator pursuing certificates in Arabic Language and Culture, Finance, and Technology and Society. Last summer, she was a research intern at the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She feels being a SINSI Intern is a “dream come true” and looks forward to a “fantastic summer,” according to a statement to the ‘Prince.’
Gabriela Oseguera Serra ’20 is a politics concentrator from Galloway, New Jersey. She is pursuing a certificate in Global Health and Health Policy, and in the summer of 2017 worked for the non-profit Climate Central as a John C. Bogle ’51 fellowship recipient.
Serra feels excited to join the SINSI community, describing it in an e-mail statement to the ‘Prince’ as a group of “passionate people who are incredibly willing to be your mentors and friends.”
Lastly, Alexandra Zalewski ’20 is a junior in the Wilson School with fluency in five languages — namely, Polish, English, Spanish, French, and German. At the University, she is currently studying Russian and Arabic, with the aim of specializing in conflict resolution in the regions where those languages are spoken.
“I’m really looking forward to growing with and learning from all current and past SINSI interns since they act as an important part of the community,” she wrote to the ‘Prince.’
SINSI co-directors Rick Barton and Kit Lunney expressed how impressed they were by this year’s applicant pool and anticipate the 2019 cohort to be deeply impactful to the federal organizations where they will work.
“We are delighted with the commitment to federal service that Princeton students continue to exhibit,” the statement reads. “Through these fellowships and internships, the SINSI scholars are able to make significant contributions to the departments and agencies where they will work.”
Correction: A previous version of this article excluded Gabriela Oseguera Serra as one of the 2019 SINSI interns. The ‘Prince’ regrets the inadvertent omission.
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