The Public Policy Club has given students across the fields of public policy, public health, government, economics and international relations a space to come together informally for years, but it was only launched as a recognized student organization this year. It offers a variety of opportunities to connect with public policy from different angles: social and career-oriented events, speaker talks and a semester-long community engagement project.
Public Policy Club co-president Logan Synder ’27 described developing a strong connection to the organization specifically through its semester-long projects, or as he refers to them, passion projects. Introduced by last year’s club president Dylan Gurl ’26, these passion projects are intended to turn members’ specific interests in areas of public policy into concrete actions that create tangible change around them.
“Public policy has such a broad scope of fields that a lot of people that are involved in it are doing what they do because they are passionate about a topic,” Snyder said. “The semester project allows us to channel that passion into an actual event where we make an impact. That’s the beauty of public policy. It’s not just the study of policy, it’s how can we change and grow to better these issues. And that’s why we really do it.”
Last fall, the club focused its efforts on civic engagement, visiting local elementary schools to speak on the importance of voting, engaging in community-led service projects and learning about the primary issues faced within the schools.
This semester, the club is turning its attention to the environment through a proposed largescale project in collaboration with the Mcleod Tyler Wellness Center. The group aims to revitalize the Wellness Center gardening space and to reestablish an active and long-lasting cultivation of that neglected area. It is currently focusing on outreach to other organizations like Botany Club, and it is applying to the Green Fee Fund to receive a grant from the College in support of the project.
Brooke Drozdowski ’27, a member of Public Policy Club, shared the rewarding nature of participating in these projects. “Being a part of outreach projects is rewarding in terms of applying what I have learned in class to the real world,” said Drozdowski. “Personally, I am meeting new people and making connections with people who have goals that are similarly aligned to mine.”
The club has grown rapidly in membership and offerings as a result of its newly found status as an official organization, with the opportunity to present at the activities fair significantly boosting its visibility and presence on campus. Co-president Ander Erickson ’27 shared his goals for gaining and retaining engagement from students.
“If you do the same thing every week, we worry that engagement is going to go down,” Erickson said. “We want to bring value to the people who show up every week, whether that is learning about something from a speaker that comes, learning how to apply to jobs, learning what jobs are available or working on something that you are passionate about, like the passion projects that we do.”
To diversify club activities while undertaking the larger-scale environment project, the club is still actively engaging in volunteer opportunities by inviting high school groups from the local Williamsburg area to hear about the importance of voting in the current election cycle.
Erickson and Snyder also expect to be joined at upcoming meetings by speakers from the Virginia General Assembly and alumni working in Washington D.C., to emphasize the role that younger generations play in the democratic process.
In the selection of these speakers, the copresidents underlined their commitment to upholding bipartisanship within the club, even as they welcome discussions related to the election season during club meetings.
“We don’t want to feed people information on what their opinions should be. We want them to make their opinions for themselves,” Erickson said. “We’re not inviting only Democrats to speak. We want Republicans to speak to our club, and independent think tanks as well.”
The club is actively working to increase the frequency with which it hosts speaker events, with the current goal being two a month. It leverages connections provided to it from associate teaching professor of public policy Alexandra Joose, and its programming chair surveys club members on their speaker and policy region preferences. The job hiring cycle also informs their desired speakers, with campaign workers prioritized in the spring and federal jobs in the fall.
This past month, the club hosted co-founder of InSight Public Affairs Joshua Lamel and Kelsey Wright, the chief of staff for a Virginia delegate. These speaker talks offered valuable opportunities for club members to network and learn more about jobs in different areas of public policy. For instance, Snyder connected with Lamel after his talk and was able to schedule one-on-one time to discuss his personal professional goals.
“I had a two hour conversation with him two days after the event about my career aspirations, what I want to do,” Snyder said. “He was great for advice.”
Students wanting to connect with peers about public policy or gain valuable career advice from alumni can stop by Chancellors 219 on Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m., to join in on the opportunities the Public Policy Club has to offer.
