Michelle Cho

Hometown: Alexandria, Virginia

Batten graduation year: 2016

Undergraduate school/major(s): UVA College of Arts and Sciences, Media Studies, Women, Gender and Sexuality, 2015

Extracurricular involvements: Executive Director of FCG Consulting, policy intern at the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights, advisor for the Charlottesville City Youth Council, freelance writer for the Maxine Platzer Lynn Women’s Center

Talk about an involvement or experience—internship, job, volunteer position or otherwise—that’s deeply shaped you.

The summer before my fourth year, I took an internship at the White House working on the Initiative for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. While I was there, I worked closely with senior policy advisors on issues such as language access, community capacity building, data disaggregation and workforce diversity. Working with communities on the ground and participating in local roundtables demonstrated the serious need that continues to exist in our country to bolster minority communities. When the conditions and livelihoods of one group in our country are improved, we are all better off.

What brought you to Batten?

My first semester at UVA, I took “Introduction to Gender Studies” with Dr. Amanda Davis. After learning about the intersectional nature of systems of oppression, I knew I wanted to learn about policy and receive the necessary training needed to make high-level change. I also developed a deep-seeded desire to work abroad and with marginalized populations such as women and children.

How has your experience at Batten changed or shaped your perspective?

My time at Batten has helped me form a more eclectic and informed view of the world. I think it’s easy to read newspapers and blogs and feel as if you are very informed and up-to-date with current events, but I’ve learned through my peers and the conversations we’ve shared that policy issues are never as neat and clean as we’d like to think they are. Batten has taught me to always question policy solutions that appear to offer a quick “magic bullet” answer to the messy problems we are tackling.

What kind of public servant do you think the world needs today?

We occupy a highly connected, globalized point in history during which various ecosystems of scholars and stakeholders have the ability to collaborate like never before. I truly believe that our future leaders will need to be great connectors—people who have the know-how and goodwill to work together with other people and with organizations, to form coalitions that capitalize on each member’s strengths to get things done.

Talk about your life and interests outside of school.

Outside of school, I am a huge bookworm. Whenever I have a free weekend, you’ll most likely find me in a bookstore, sitting on a nice comfy couch buried in a giant stack of books. I also very much enjoy creative writing and messing around with the lenses of my camera. My faith is also a big part of my life and has been absolutely formative in the way I see and interpret the world. 

In 10 years, how do you hope the policy landscape has changed at large? And at the community level?

On a larger scale, I would hope that policy becomes more proactive instead of reactive. Nearly every study of crisis in the world has proven that preventive measures are much more cost effective and efficient than reactionary responses. Trickle-up policy is now a possible avenue of change with the democratizing effects of mass communication, allowing policymakers to work with data to plan ahead for crises.

Which issues do you think the 21st-century policymaker needs to pay special attention to?

I believe the 21st-century policymaker needs to be particularly cognizant of the rising cost of education domestically, and the opportunity cost of not having universal education everywhere else in the world.