As spring term ends and graduation looms, we know goodbyes are on the horizon. Three of SCI’s student staff will be graduating from the University of Oregon this year. Kerry and Marshall, our SCYP and EPIC-N Graduate Employees, have spent both years of their masters programs at SCI, and our 2017-18 SCYP report editor, Ben, is a graduating senior. While we are sad to see them go, we are excited to see what the future holds for each of them.
Marshall Curry will graduate with two degrees – one in Public Administration and one in Education Leadership. He plans to take a few weeks to enjoy the summer before beginning to explore opportunities to work with educational nonprofits. Marshall is looking forward to a career supporting and advocating for educators and their students in either the public or nonprofit sector. During the early summer, he’ll be spending his time working on a garden that includes 20th-generation Ukrainian tomatoes, making summer squash enchiladas, organizing a float trip, training for a triathlon he’ll complete in September, and building community in his native Springfield.
Also graduating from the PPPM Master of Public Administration program, Oregon native Kerry Edinger plans to stay in-state, although she will take some time for a grand international adventure after graduation. When she returns, Kerry looks forward to seeking career opportunities in local government. She hopes to help improve health, happiness, and quality of life for Oregonians by making services more accessible and efficient. Kerry’s passion for local government developed through her work and classes in the Sustainable City Year Program. In addition to her role at the SCI office, Kerry helped the city of Albany as an intern last summer and is wrapping up an internship with the city of Springfield this term. Kerry has also been active as the president and founder of the University of Oregon chapter of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA). She looks forward to building on these experiences in her future career.
We’re glad that graduation isn’t the final time we will get to see SCYP report editor Ben Pettis in the office. He will be around this summer to complete the reports from the TriMet and La Pine spring term classes. Ben is graduating from the School of Communications and Journalism with a Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies, and his next step is a master’s degree in communication studies focusing on media and visual culture. His studies will take him back to his home state of Colorado. He is excited to dig deeper into how internet culture impacts the ways people communicate, and he hopes to eventually become a professor in that field. We hope he also continues to dominate the world of ultimate frisbee.