print version

Internships | 2004 Intern Profile

Brief Bio:

My name is Sofia Mariona, I’m Salvadoran, and I grew up in Bellingham, Washington. My interest in public policy was sparked when I was a Congressional Page for the U.S. House of Representatives during my junior year of high school. In that program, I got a taste of political life in Washington, D.C. However, it was not until I went to college when I started taking classes in politics and learned about political theories, and did an internship at a think tank in D.C. that I realized that public policy was for me. To learn more about public policy, I did the PPIA Junior Summer Institute Program at Princeton University in 2003. The JSI experience taught me how I could turn my interest in public policy into a career.

Summary of Internship Experience:

My PPIA Public Policy Internship was at the City of Bellingham Planning Department. I conducted a study titled, “The Fiscal Impacts of Annexing Bellingham’s Urban Growth Area and Five Year Review Area.” To do this study I had to familiarize myself with both the City Planning and City Finance Departments. Although the bulk of my work involved these two departments, I also had to communicate with all of the other City departments to learn how annexation would affect them.

In the process I learned all about the various city departments and how they work with local community. I also learned how Washington State works with local jurisdictions to manage population growth. After much research I believe I am more knowledgeable on the purposes of annexation and how it works in Washington State.

In addition to gaining more insight into the inner workings of Washington State and its annexation laws, I also improved on my analytical and communication skills. I was able to take a pretty general yet complicated vision that I knew very little about, educated myself on it, and turned it into a comprehensive report, which can now be used as a tool by local leaders as they make public policy decisions.

The internship has encouraged me to keep learning about public policy.