JACOB BARRETT
PL Eportfolio
Dual Major: Government and Politics + Economics
Public Leadership Scholars Program
ABOUT
My name is Jacob Barrett. I grew up in Joppa, Maryland, a community rich in culture and diversity. While attending The John Carroll School, a prestigious college preparatory institution, I developed a love for athletics such as Lacrosse, Track and Field, and Tennis, along with a profound interest for Public Policy and Debate. While at John Carroll, I was the captain of the Academic team, participated briefly on the debate team, and acted as a Student Page to the Maryland House of Delegates. During my later High School years, I worked three Jobs. The first of which was working at a grocery store, where I was a cashier. As cashier, I oversaw the transactions and was a key connector between the customer and management. The latter two jobs were working as a lifeguard. Through both of these jobs, I learned the value of being a leader and protector, through enforcement of safety guidelines. As one with many developed values, I was drawn to a college that also exhibited exemplary values. This of course, is the University of Maryland. Now a freshman at UMD, I hope to improve himself, both in knowledge, and as a leader.
CPPL REFLECTION EXAMPLE
In my CPPL class, I am challenged with completing many personally relevant reflections. One example of which is this reflection, where I was prompted to reflect on the concept of “Living Democracy.” I chose this reflection because it highlights a lot of my current political philosophy, specifically my view of majority rule. 11/17/2020
"I believe that living democracy is the best form of democracy, as it sponsors active participation and pride in democracy as part of a culture, but it is also dangerous, as it enables the view of ethics that morality hinges on the whim of the majority. To paraphrase, living democracy as a culture is beneficial insofar as those participating in it also hold a greater moral principal in a higher regard than democracy itself. To contextualize what I’m saying, I will explain how this would look in American society. Our society would greatly benefit from a living democracy as it would enable pride in voting, political participation, and policy that reflects the needs of those it affects. However, unless our society, on a larger scale, values constitutional rights as a reflection of our self-evident natural rights to life, liberty, and property, living democracy likely would enable people to turn a blind eye when the majority decides to violate the minority. This is already a phenomenon in America, as most policy-makers view the constitution as a recommendation, and thus violate our liberties as if the bill of rights is a checklist, and is only accelerated as Americans value democracy more and the constitution less. In conclusion, if we are going to have a democracy, we ought to participate in it actively and create a living democracy. However, we must remember that government exists for the sole purpose of protecting our natural rights, and when said rights are violated, it shouldn’t matter how enthusiastically the majority supports the violation.'
PLCY201 POLICY BRIEF EXAMPLE
Over the course of my PLCY201 Class, I write policy briefs, essays where I have to take a stand on certain issues and propose policies. This one relates to Policing in America, which is an issue I hold a strong opinion on, and I feel this is a particularity strong example.
https://umd.instructure.com/courses/1289585/assignments/5197401/submissions/4401286?download=59103803
REFLECTED BEST SELF DEVELOPMENT PLAN
In CPPL100, we were introduced to the concept of our "Best-Selves." Through combining our perceptions of ourselves with the reflections of others, we crafted a vision of when we are at our best. Below is a development plan I created, to achieve my best self.
To achieve my goals and become my best self, I must create and follow a plan. This plan must keep me on track to achieve my best self by tracking my progress qualifying evidence of my goals to document my progress, identifying and utilize resources to aid my progress, and determining the best way to access and build these resources.
To know that I am making progress with my best self-goals, I will implement a strategy to reliably check myself. I will set aside times each month to reflect on whether or not I am enabling myself to be my best self. Additionally, I will make an effort to focus on individual aspects of my best-self each day, to practice being conscious of whether or not I am meeting my goals. I will also seek evidence to document my progress. I will make an effort to continue prompting others on whether or not I am effectively becoming my best self. Additionally, I will document my thoughts from my monthly reflections to compare them to my original best self-plan.
This means I will rely heavily on scheduling resources, such as my calendar and alarm, to keep myself on track. I will also have to rely heavily on my mobile phone, both for notetaking and contacting others. Additionally, I will need to lean on close, trustworthy friends as a resource, to answer my questions and support me in meeting my goals. Finally, I will have to rely on myself as a resource, because I will need to be self-motivated, and open to criticism.
EXPECTATIONS VS. REALITY
To reflect on my first semester, I was assigned with reflecting on how my semester changed me, and how well it met my expectations.
Prior to college, I had various perceptions of what college would be like, and how it might transform my thought process. College challenged these perceptions and was different in many ways then I expected it to be. First, my perception of leadership changed over the course of the semester. Prior to college, my perception was that leadership was only as good as the changes it produced. I only interpreted someone as a good leader if the changes they created aligned with my ideals of the common good. While I still am unable to approve of a leader that doesn’t do so, I am now able to separate good policies from good intentions, and leadership efficiency. I am able to perceive a leader as well-intentioned and effective while still disagreeing with their actions and am able to separate the person from their actions. Next, the Interaction between courses in different departments surprised me. I realized that different departments often work together to create important knowledge. For example, My History 200 class and my Economics 200 class often went hand in hand when economics concepts were developed through historical evidence, and when historical concepts involved economic forces. I also initially expected that college would be vastly different from high school in terms of the structure, delivery, and grades of high school. However, apart from having much less “Busy-work” to keep me liable for learning course concepts, the flow of the classes and grading system was not much different. I didn’t feel like I had to put in much more effort than high school to get good grades. Additionally, I did not expect a class like CPPL100, which was so student centered. I did not expect any class to focus primarily on expanding students’ worldviews through the experience of other students and involved class activities. Another aspect of college that was much different than expected was my life on campus. First, I expected campus to be a lot more locked down, and that I would not be able to live the “college experience.” Although I know from upperclassmen that I’m missing out on a ton, I still feel like I had a lot more fun than I thought I would. I don’t expect the second semester to be much different than the first, but I am hoping that there will be venues to rush. I expected Covid-19’s effect to be much different than it was. I expected that the University would either be heavy-handed in mandating safety protocols or loose given the notion that they wouldn’t be able to control students effectively, and that for revenue purposes they needed to be easygoing. Instead, the University found a point between the two that satisfied no one. On campus students felt that they weren’t allowed to have fun, socialize, or even work out without UMD breathing down their neck, and at the same time cases spiked, testing ceased, and practices resumed for sports no one was allowed to watch. College has been much different than expected. It has transformed and affirmed my view of many things and further molded me as a person.
3 SEMESTER REVIEW
Entering college, I thought leadership just meant being in charge and doing a good job. However, my time in this scholars program has taught me that it means so much more. What I described before is management, which is simply a position of power in which you have a task to meet. Managers can be leaders, but there are certain qualities that distinguish leadership. Leadership is about swaying others to achieve things they would otherwise be able to, in an effort to meet a common goal. I’ve found that I can do this best by using my strengths of problem solving and persuasion. I like to think of myself as a citizen leader. I do not have power, but with these talents I strive to lead others to achieve the common good anyways. One assignment that facilitated my change in understanding of leadership was Our leadership analysis. We were tasked with analyzing the leadership of a person we choose, but we were not allowed to use several leaders who are generally well known and studied. I chose to write my paper on Hunter S. Thompson and his run for Sheriff in Pitkin County, Colorado, which is a topic I did not know much about. Through researching Thompson and his story, I learned a lot about how powerful leadership can be and how using your own talents as a citizen leader can lead to extraordinary outcomes. The paper is attached below
PRACTICUM REVIEW
For my practicum assignment, I took GVPT479C: Seminar in American Politics; Civic Engagement in Action, which involved hands-on policy advocacy work for a bill in the Maryland general assembly, and taking direct action to lobby for that bill. In addition to learning a lot about how the Maryland General Assembly works, I also was able to learn about how change works from the ground up, and was able to develop my skills as a leader within a group of classmates, as well as within a larger group of activists who are also focused on using their own skills to take action to better society. One project for this class was making a fact sheet designed to enhance my group's ability to appeal to policy makers. This fact sheet shows how I have developed my ability to be effective in leadership, even if confined to a small fact sheet. The Fact sheet is attached below. Moving forward, I plan to use this experience, along with the rest of my Public leadership experience, in my life going forward. In the rest of my time at the University of Maryland, I plan to use the skills I learned to be a leader in my classes and extracurriculars, along with a supervisor job I will be working this summer. In My career, I plan to use these skills as I pursue a career in law. My resume and an elevator pitch on how my Scholars Experience is relevant to a Job in Law are attached below
COLLEGE PARK SCHOLARS: PUBLIC LEADERSHIP
https://scholars.umd.edu (Links to an external site.)
https://scholars.umd.edu/programs/pl (Links to an external site.)
