Photo Credit: Katie Bemb
Freshman Russian language major Leeza Wayne is a Public Leadership Scholar from Santa Cruz, California, that has done her part to get involved on campus since arriving last Fall. Wayne is also involved with Navy ROTC, and was named Midshipman of the Month in March. This semester she is a Climate Action 2016 intern through the School of Public Policy.
Photo Credit: George Washington University Naval ROTC
In December, Wayne applied for the internship after hearing about the opportunity from former Assistant Director of Public Leadership Scholars James Stillwell. Stillwell spoke to her Leadership for the Common Good class, encouraging students to apply to intern for him in the spring semester. Wayne was accepted over winter break.
Wayne’s tasks at her internship are focused around student involvement and fundraising.
“I am currently working on getting together a team of volunteers for the climate action summit forum at UMD, and that’s pretty exciting,” Wayne said. “I have to design t-shirts, recruit volunteers, and then figure out what the volunteers will be working on. It’s a lot, but it’s fun.”
Wayne works about 10 hours a week with a team of eight interns to prepare for the upcoming Climate Action Summit and Forum. Her efforts are primarily focused on the forum, which will be held on campus May 4, the day before the Summit begins in D.C. The forum will be a public event, with sessions open to students as well as government and non-governmental officials.
“As a public conference in support of the objectives of the Climate Action 2016 multi-stakeholder summit to be held in Washington, DC on May 5-6, the forum will provide an opportunity for discussion among academia as well as a diverse range of stakeholders with an interest in advancing the climate implementation agenda,” the forum’s website said.
Stillwell remarked on her midpoint semester evaluation that “Wayne excels in presenting professional and positive demeanor and overall enthusiasm for the work content.”
Wayne said that she has a lot of work to do before the forum in May, but that she’s already learned a great deal.
“It’s taught me how to handle having a lot on my plate, and how to be self-driven. I’m constantly learning a lot about my job, myself, and how to plan a huge event like this,” Wayne said. “My future career will involve a lot of direct leadership and initiative, so it’s been good to get some experience in that realm.”
Along with all of her hard work academically and extracurricularly, Wayne has been able to make some wonderful connections socially at UMD as well.
“Leeza is a strong-minded individual in both her social circles and her leadership positions,” said Wayne’s roommate, freshman government and politics major Eileen Walsh. “She is very smart, and thinks things out before making decisions. She knows how to stand up to people, but somehow still has such a kindness … The kind of balance that only great leaders seem to have.”
Photo Credit: Katie Bemb