Watch this video featuring student Connor Tenor and the Bachelor of Public Administration
Connor Tenor knew he wanted to go into Public Administration after a life-changing experience volunteering in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. As a public administration major, you have the choice between leading disaster response efforts to tackling social issues by choosing an emphasis on either Public and Nonprofit Management or Emergency Management. The Bachelor of Public Administration, in either emphasis, prepares their students for a career after school through various hands-on learning experiences such as City Council simulations. “Someone will be playing as the mayor, there will be City Council members, an agenda and everything. Then, there will be people who are arguing for this position and community members. It’s going to be a whole simulation,” Tenor explains.
Last semester, Tenor was featured as part of the Civic Scholars Leadership Program where he says he spent the “fall semester visiting with different government agencies, businesses and nonprofits in the area” and “got to learn about city planning and all kinds of different things” which for him was “a really really cool experience.” Tenor commented also on how his professors play a major role in his education— “they all are invested in my success.” Tenor is currently pursuing Public and Nonprofit Management because “if there’s something in the world that I don’t like or that I think is unfair or unjust I’m going to do what I can to change it.” Learn more about the Bachelor of Public Administration.
[Note to reader: This video includes information about UW-Green Bay’s Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration]
Transcript: I guess I’ve just kind of always been the type of person where if there’s something in the world that I don’t like or that I think is unfair or unjust I’m going to do what I can to change it. So, Public Administration is really about how things actually get done in government and then there can also be a lot of overlap with the nonprofit sector. So, I’m also taking classes on that right now. And, I originally got my interest in Public Administration after I graduated high school and I spent 2 months volunteering in Puerto Rico repairing homes that were damaged during Hurricane Maria. And it was just a really impactful experience for me. I was originally really interested in Emergency Management which is one of the two emphases that you can choose as a Public Admin major. But, as I’ve taken more courses and explored different interests, I’ve realized that my interests lie more in like, state and local governments and how they run. So, one of my favorite classes that I’m taking this semester, is State and Local Government with Professor Helpap and one of the really cool things is, we’re actually going to go to City Hall and do a City Council simulation. So, someone will be playing as the mayor, there will be City Council members, an agenda and everything, so, then there will be like people who are arguing for like this position and like community members. It’s going to be a whole simulation so, that should be really cool. Last semester, I was a part of the Civic Scholars Leadership program and so, what that does is we spend the fall semester visiting with different government agencies, businesses, nonprofits in the area. Got to learn about like, city planning, all kinds of different things, so, that was a really really cool experience. All of my professors have been wonderful. They all really are invested in my success. I’m excited to go to my Congress class. I’m excited to go learn about state and local governments and so, just that excitement, I think is, it makes a big difference for me. And then also knowing that after I graduate, whether it’s a nonprofit organization or a state or local or federal government uh, who knows. But just knowing that I’ll be able to find a job that I’m excited to go to every day, that I’m passionate about, and where I know I’m making some sort of an impact.
