A Summer with Orleans Public Education Network

Hi! My name is Sonali, I am a junior studying social policy and practice and political science at Tulane. My main interest in policy work is education inequalities and how our current school finance system perpetuates them. This summer I will be interning at the Orleans Public Education Network (OPEN), which is an organization that compiles research on equity in New Orleans public schools to make it accessible for the community.

This internship is important to my development as a young professional because it helps me reach my first learning objective to make meaningful and long-lasting professional connections in the education policy field. OPEN has led some of the most important research since the school reforms that followed Hurricane Katrina, so they are very well connected.

It also meets my learning objective of gaining more understanding of legislative and political affairs because I will learn more about these politics specifically in Louisiana. Further, it helps me meet my learning objective of gaining more research for my Honors Thesis regarding school finance and how it relates to equity and people from marginalized backgrounds.

While working at OPEN this summer, I hope to have at least five different networking meetings in the field of education policy. I also hope to explore options for post-graduate employment. My internship fits with NCI’s missions because it is empowering me, a woman, to lead with integrity and develop my skills professionally.

In order to prepare for this internship, I have been and will continue to be in contact with my supervisor discussing research questions that I will delve into when I start. I am very excited about my internship at OPEN this summer because it has been an organization I have admired since I read their first piece of literature during my first semester of freshman year. As an incoming senior, I am looking forward to getting the opportunity to learn more about New Orleans education equity.

Sincerely,

Sonali Chadha (she, her, hers)