After exploring many of my fellow 2nd year PSLers advocacy projects, I was inspired by their work and learned a great deal of new information. For example, one of the projects discussed Women in STEM, and it made me realize how many cultures deal with women being the minority in STEM fields. I also read about the importance of Ohio’s great lakes and this was very similar to a discussion I had in my Intro to Environmental Sciences course I took last semester. Another project I browsed was about peoples’ opinions on PSL, and as a member of the exec board, this was extremely useful data and well put-together. I even saw one person who designed a super clear, concise and simple website providing more depth on environmental issues. Creating a website is a potential platform I plan on utilizing for my project. Another possibility is using a trifold for visuals or using Sparkpost along with a written report. I actually liked having online access to the projects because even though it wasn’t the same as an in-person experience, I actually got to peacefully read the articles/reports at my own pace rather than rush through 100 different stations. Some topics I am leaning toward involve climate change and its effects on species, social media’s positive/negative effect on self esteem (not sure if the project could even be about this) or the socioeconomic effects on education.

Meet Beth Ann Powers. A second year Buckeye from Dayton, Ohio, Beth Ann looks forward to spending another year studying political science along with societal and environmental issues. She aspires to attend law school for environmental law to eventually serve as a lawyer. And this is one of the many reasons why Beth Ann chose to be a member of PSL! To my surprise, one thing we share in common is actually one of the classes we are taking called Environmental Natural Resources. We even have the same professor! Outside of PSL, Beth Ann lives with her sorority: Alpha Gamma Delta. There, she serves on the Philanthropy Committee. This is her first year living with her sorority sisters, and so far she loves her house, meals, and friends. Last year, she only knew a few of the girls but now she gets to build bonds her whole family. Besides Alpha Gamma Delta, Beth Ann hopes to get more involved, perhaps by joining the Buckeye Food Alliance. Speaking of food, her favorite dining on campus is Sloopy’s Diner – in fact, she greatly misses having a dining plan. Last year, Oxley’s was her go-to but now she doesn’t like it because they got rid of their buffalo chicken wrap. Her favorite food is buffalo chicken, so way to go Oxley! Unrelated but always important, Beth Ann’s favorite color is purple. When life gets hard, however, Beth Ann loves to just get some good food with her friends, enjoy the fresh air, and hang out a little bit outside her house. Often times, she’ll de-stress by calling her parents and updating them on her life. Also, “sometimes, very rarely, I go to the gym.” Lastly, I asked her if she has any tips for us PSLers and she answered, “Take advantage of the connections that Kevin has and everything he offers… he knows a lot about internships and (obviously) pre-law!”. 

Response to the November Question

Congressional apportionment in the House very clearly has its imbalances of representation between the states. It is acknowledged that redistricting is an issue; however, the allocation of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives among the states is very evidently flawed. Fundamentally, the residents of smaller states are technically getting more representation than that of the larger states (i.e. Wyoming’s 579,315 citizens versus Montana’s 1,050,493 citizens). The current representation does not been take into account the current United States population, given that it has literally tripled since the 1900s. Thus, based on my research, I argue that there are mathematical formulas to make these disparities amongst apportionment a bit more fair.

It is common sense that the population of each individual state will fluctuate, so basing the allocation merely off of population is not a strong enough basis. Another con is that people could move from state to state based on its representation, which is not good. Thus comes the Wyoming Rule, which divides the total population of the United States by that of the smallest state (population-wise) which would equal the number of seats to be equally apportioned among the 50 states. Mathematically speaking, each  district would cover the same amount as the smallest state. This is one method of making it fair.

Another rule I learned about it called the Cube Root Rule which makes it the cube root of the total population. A strength about this method is that it accounts for changes in population with each census and corresponds it to the number of members in Congress. Even though both these rules would imply that the number of members in Congress does not stay consistent, it still complies with the increasingly dramatic changes to the United States population. As of now, the apportionment is severely flawed. Thus through enacting one of these rules, some fairness could finally be promoted.