Reflecting on Advocacy

The PSL Advocacy Project has left me with a lot to think about, as well as several things learned. It has given me a better sense on how to advocate for change, as well as inspiration for ideas on my own advocacy project for the next school year. The projects I looked at were “Abolish the death penalty”, “The Opioid Crisis in Ohio”, and “High Medical Costs for hospitalized children”. The one thing I took away from all of those subjects is that the creators of those respective projects all chose them because of the impact the subject had on them personally. I found that this personal connection made their projects all the more persuasive than if it was just a random subject chosen for no reason. It inspired me to choose something that I feel a personal passion/ connection for, related to medical/hospital costs or quality healthcare, or even on another subject, prison reform. I feel a personal connection to medical costs because my sister and I were both born premature and were in the hospital for several months after being born, and the bills were exorbitant. This is something many families in America suffer the burden of, and it even points out the flaws in the American healthcare system. The topic of prison reform appealed to me after our visits to the penitentiary as well as watching several court proceedings during the PSL field trips, which made me realize that there are people serving a very undeserving sentence for nonviolent first-time offenses. The advocacy projects about the death penalty and high medical costs for hospitalized children opened my eyes to these subjects that I under prioritized in terms of what I believed needed to be advocated. They also helped me understand that advocating for change doesn’t necessarily only mean going to rallies and stirring up controversy, but can also be a more subtle form of advocacy like volunteering, speaking to congresspeople and lobbying for important causes, or simply donating to important causes.  

G.O.A.L.S.

I have a wide array of GOALS for the future, and Honors and Scholars is going to be Instrumental in helping me achieve those goals. I have the aspiration of studying abroad which is definitely in the category of Global Awareness, but I would do so with the intention of broadening my political knowledge of other countries, being in the Politics, Society, and Law Scholars program. I For academic Enrichment I would like to shadow a lawyer, or clerk for a judge/ attorney in the hopes of gaining legal knowledge and solidifying what I hope to be my future career. In terms of leadership development, I hope to be a part of the PSL Executive Board and be a significant part of what makes the scholars program run so smoothly, as well as cultivate leadership skills I know to be instrumental to me in the future in my career as a lawyer or a judge. For original inquiry, I am currently unsure as to what I would choose to do, but I hope to be a part of research about policymaking. My favorite one thus far is service engagement. I have an avid love for community service and hope to volunteer at a legal aid society, or simple homeless shelters or food banks. All my goals will be fostered and developed through my time in PSL.

 

Career

[“Career” is where you can collect information about your experiences and skills that will apply to your future career.  Like your resume, this is information that will evolve over time and should be continually updated.  For more guidance on using your ePortfolio, including questions and prompts that will help you get started, please visit the Honors & Scholars ePortfolio course in Carmen. To get answers to specific questions, please email eportfolio@osu.edu. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

Artifacts

I think that changing Congressional apportionment to make to fair is necessary, yet currently impossible. However appealing the idea of equal representation for all states and territories sound, it poses a great mathematical challenge. However, with the idea of representation in mind, territories should simply be regarded as states in the matter of apportionment and each be given a seat along with the other 50 states, and then the rest of the seats can be distributed among all 52 depending on the population.

In my opinion, this would be mathematically challenging, however, since we live in a democracy, everyone including the territories deserves representation in the government. If they don’t get representation, they should not be taxed for anything, hence the argument of taxation without representation. Using the example of Wyoming’s population size versus Montana’s which is twice that of Wyoming, the logical solution would be to give Montana twice the number of representatives that Wyoming gets in the House. Instead of taking seats away from states with more representation to assign to the territories, the simple solution would be to add more seats so that everyone is represented fairly for their population size, including the territories that are currently taxed, but go unrepresented in the government.

I don’t necessarily have the solution to fair apportionment figured out, however I do believe that it does need to be addresses in the spirit of representation for all. I would assume that adding more seats in the House for larger populated states would be the most obvious solution, however, I am sure that it would bring problems of its own with that.

About Me

Hey everyone! My name is Sanjana Srinivasan and I am a first year student at The Ohio State University. I am a political science major on a pre-law track and I aspire to go to law school and eventually practice law one day. I consider myself to be of two worlds, having grown up in India from the ages of 1 to 13. I would call myself a citizen of the world since my life from an early age has always involved travel to several places across the world, from Europe to Africa. Starting at a young age and continuing through high school, I showed an interest in track and field, martial arts such as Tae Kwon Do, singing and playing the piano. In addition to those activities, one thing that I actively participated in was community service. Beginning when I was fourteen, my involvement in my community back home in San Jose, CA, was very constant, be it through my library or community center. In 2018 I volunteered to be a poll worker during the primary elections which was an attempt of mine to be more service oriented in the political field. My interest in politics and service to my community was the main reason I joined the Politics, Society, and Law Scholars here at Ohio State. 

My hometown since I moved back to America, is in San Jose, California where I live with my parents and older sister. My hobbies include binge watching true crime TV shows, hanging out with my best friends, and listening to music. I look forward to an incredible and well rounded experience here at Ohio State and hope that it will provide me with all the opportunities that I need to fulfill my professional and personal goals. 

Go Bucks!