Year in Review

A year ago today, I stood on the cusp of an internship that concerned me for several reasons. One, it was at a local charter school–whose work I did admire, but as the daughter of two public school teachers, I found myself feeling rather averse to charter schools in general. Two, I had been finding myself increasingly pigeonholed into education-related internships and activities, and I was worried that education wasn’t the field I wanted to be in. And three, it was set to involve heavy use of computers and “data analysis.” I’ve always been the friend who can’t be left alone with any form of technology for fear of me breaking it (see: Excel spreadsheets, laptops, Xboxes, television remotes, etc), so an internship based around computer skills was rather daunting to me.

Yet once my internship at KIPP Columbus began, I found myself enthralled with their admirable work, forgetting any previous charter school woes to just admire the amazing things they do for their students, and (forgive the pun) EXCELling at the tasks they gave me. The internship helped me to learn how much I actually do enjoy data analysis. The test score analyses that I was doing then went on to provide a basis for reports and actions taken by the school as a whole. It was thrilling work for me, and I realized I’d found a new career path.

The past year has seen our country take a very dark turn politically, and I’ve found myself increasingly less interested in any sort of political leadership roles. Instead, through my internship at KIPP Columbus and the data analysis I’ve been doing for my independent research thesis, I’ve discovered a niche that suits me much better. With the mass of data available at our fingertips, I’ve realized I want to go into the field of policy analysis. I want to be one of the people running the numbers and creating reports for those political leaders to learn from–as clearly, policy research has become more important now than ever if our society is to replace misinformation/fake news with sound ideas.

To pursue this, I will be interning at the Government Accountability Office’s Health Care Policy team in Washington, D.C. this summer–and I couldn’t be more excited.

G.O.A.L.S.

Global Awareness: 

Being a citizen of the world, with knowledge of cultures other than my own, is something I am striving to become. During the summer of 2015, I studied abroad in Greece for six weeks on the remote island of Kythera. As a Greek-American, it was so fulfilling to get to go back to my roots and to learn in the birthplace of my ancestors. I got to explore both ancient and modern Greek culture, as it was an archaeological trip designed to investigate the ruins and artifacts on the island. The trip also enhanced my Greek language skills, and I became fluent in a way that I never was before.

Also, the spring semester of my freshman year, I took the London Honors course, which exposed me to the culture and customs of England. While there may not be a language barrier between the United States and England, there are tremendous cultural differences. Studying the functions of the country here at Ohio State, and then getting to spend over a week there for spring break with my classmates, provided a fascinating (and fun) cultural learning experience.

Original Inquiry:

I had an internship for the Ohio Senate Democratic Caucus during the fall semester of 2015. This involved researching numerous potential policy solutions and presenting them in the form of memos for the rest of the Caucus to read, analyze, edit, and then distribute to legislators. Generally, my tasks would relate to scouring the Internet for comparisons to the types of policies other states have implemented, and then analyzing the likelihood of their effectiveness in the state of Ohio. This helped me to better understand the inner workings of the policy-making process, which is a career field that I am highly interested in.

I am also involved with a research project at Ohio State on education policy.

During the summer of 2016 (through the present), I have worked as a research and data intern at KIPP Columbus. This has consisted of conducting data analysis on students’ test scores and academic progress. I then transfer this information into accessible spreadsheets and reports that effectively convey my findings to the rest of KIPP’s staff.

Academic Enrichment:

I decided to become an Economics major because I find the subject to be very interesting, but also because Economics as a study is very useful. I have a strong interest in politics, which is why I am also a Policy Analysis major. The combination of studying Policy Analysis and Economics helps when analyzing the fiscal side of legislative issues (which are a growing concern for the United States’ government, particularly budgetary issues). Economic theory does not interest me as much as applying economics to real-life scenarios. I want to be able to apply my knowledge of Economics to the public sector in my future career, and I will continue to pursue a rigorous course load at Ohio State to achieve this.

Leadership Development:

I am the Chapter Leader for OSU’s chapter of Students for Education Reform. I feel very passionate about education-related issues, which is why I have become so involved with this student organization. I am in charge of communicating with the national nonprofit side of Students for Education Reform, which involves meeting specific, pre-determined metrics and goals. We choose particular “campaigns” each year, such as working to expand access to quality pre-K in Columbus, and dedicate all of our efforts to those campaigns. Being the leader of SFER has taught me how to interact and learn from people with differing opinions than mine, as well as what it is like to report to a hierarchy of authority, much like in a real-world job outside of college. The political side of SFER also aligns with my career goals—we work to push legislators to improve the conditions of Ohio’s education system.

I am also the Vice President of my scholarship/service group, the Eminence Fellows. This position is one of guidance and oversight for the rest of the Executive Board, and it involves a great deal of large-scale event planning. Serving on the Eminence Exec Board as Vice President (and previously Events Chair) has given me the opportunity to communicate and form connections with important figures in the Columbus community.

Service Engagement:

I am a founding member of PassGo, a student organization at Ohio State that works to help ex-felons become rehabilitated in the Columbus community. Our goal is to form connections with small businesses and inform them about the “WOTC,” which is a government funded tax credit that businesses can receive for hiring ex-felons (as well as members of other at-risk populations). In this way, we provide a beneficial service to both the small businesses as well as the ex-felons, who are known for facing difficulties in finding work.

During the summer of 2016, I worked at KIPP Columbus, a high-performing charter school, as a Summer Fellow for The Columbus Foundation. The Columbus Foundation’s Summer Fellowship program is highly selective, and is designed to pair up compassionate, driven students with nonprofits in the Columbus community. I am very passionate about quality educational opportunities for children, and I experienced a great deal of personal growth from being able to apply this passion during my time at KIPP Columbus.

Study Abroad to Greece

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This photo was taken at the remains of ancient Roman baths on the Greek island of Corinth. I traveled here as part of a 6-week Ohio State study abroad trip to Greece, in which we participated in archaeological work with our professors as well as our own individual research. Here, I am assisting in standard cleanup procedures of the floors’ frescoes. Each day, we hiked across Greek islands in search of other ancient sites, and took back samples to our house to catalogue and study. I learned quite a bit about the history and culture of Greece, which was particularly fulfilling for me, as I am Greek.

I got to speak with the locals in their native tongue, and served as a guide on the trip whenever our professors were not with us. It helped me to develop both my language and leadership skills. Also, we each got to complete a research project that had to be related to Greece in some way, so I conducted individual interviews, internet research, and on-site investigations in the town of Karavas, Kythera to explore the very unique political climate of the small Greek island in the midst of the economic crisis.

About Me

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My name is Eleni Packis, and I am a senior pursuing a dual degree in Policy Analysis and Economics. Due to my interest in education policy, I am conducting an independent research thesis to explore the impact of value-added as a measure of teacher effectiveness in the state of Ohio. I have previously worked within the Ohio Senate as a legislative research intern, and also as a research and data intern for KIPP Columbus, a charter school dedicated to assisting low-income students in Columbus. In my free time, I volunteer with a local nonprofit Us Together to teach citizenship classes to immigrants in the Columbus community. This summer, I will be interning at the Government Accountability Office’s Health Care Policy team in Washington, D.C.