This summer, UTC senior Sofiia Skrypkar participated in a Public Policy and International Affairs workshop held in Austin, Texas. Photo by Angela Foster.
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior Sofiia Skrypkar wants to make a difference, and this summer had the opportunity to attend the University of Texas at Austin’s Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs Public Service Weekend.
From July 18-20, Skrypkar spent three days learning from actual policymakers, attending sessions on various issues and visiting historic landmarks.
Skrypkar, a Brock Scholar in the UTC Honors College majoring in political science and public service with a concentration in public policy—and a minor in sociology—began her journey toward public service while growing up in Ukraine.
Her family came to the United States in 2011 to escape religious persecution from the post-Soviet region under the Lautenberg Amendment.
“My grandparents were religiously persecuted,” Skrypkar said. “Both of my grandfathers were put into jail for refusing to do military service against their religion. They are Seventh-day Adventists and also refused to work on the Sabbath.”
Skrypkar said she doesn’t remember much of her time in Ukraine, but it had a significant impact on her life.
“It definitely influenced how I view politics,” she explained. “My dad and I have conversations about this, too, because we love this country. We’re now citizens of this country. We feel like it’s given us a lot.
“I have things that I want to fix growing up here. I feel very distinctly American. Sometimes I take for granted what we have.”
Going through this experience as a child, Skrypkar said she wants to help people in her future career.
There are a variety of areas that intrigue her.
“I’m interested in social policy, welfare policy, and the intersection with public health,” she said. “I’m working on a project with one of my professors and another student in the Honors College about differences in mental health and connectedness that students feel if they’re living on campus or if they’re commuting to campus. Or if they have a community. I’m interested in the public health route.”
These interests led her to apply for—and be accepted into—the Public Policy and International Affairs workshop in Texas.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Skrypkar said. “I know that Tennessee adopts a lot of similar policies that Texas adopts. I knew it in that sense, but I had never been there. It was interesting to go and see a different landscape.”
Sofiia Skrypkar is a Brock Scholar in the UTC Honors College majoring in political science and public service with a concentration in public policy.
Skrypkar said she felt intimidated going into the experience, but by the end of the weekend, she knew she deserved to be there.
Her favorite part of the weekend was getting to see policymakers discuss real problems during a bipartisan panel.
“It was actually the best part seeing that because we see so much in our media and even in our classrooms, how difficult it is to have these kinds of conversations,” Skrypkar explained. “The Republican lawmaker was from the community affected by the floods in Texas. He was talking about how good policy doesn’t have politics.
“He was talking about how we are all fundamentally good and we all want to work together. That stuck out to me. I kind of see the world like that, going into this field. You don’t want to feel that there’s a problem and I can’t do anything to solve it.”
She and other attendees participated in seminars and had conversations on border patrol, Latino identity and other local policies that affect constituents. They also visited the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library.
“It was really awesome,” Skrypkar said. “It was an experience. What these weekends are about is opportunities to network and to hear from other public policy professionals. To see where you might want to fit in and where you want to go to graduate school as well—what kind of policy area someone wants to study.”
Dr. Trey Straussberger, director of the UTC Office of National Scholarships, guided Skrypkar through the process of finding an opportunity to explore her interests.
“We approach a lot of these kinds of experiences as almost a kind of climbing a mountain,” he said. “These shorter weekend-long experiences, like the service weekend, are that first kind of step. It’s a student figuring out what actual public policy is about, not just in the classroom. In the community, applied, what that looks like. What they’re passionate about.”
Skrypkar joined Straussberger on a trip to Scandinavia this summer. She said that both experiences helped prepare her for life after college.
“It expands your horizons,” she explained. “I went to Italy this summer with my family. It’s a different culture, a different vibe, different from Scandinavia, different from here, different from Ukraine, as I remember it. Even going to Austin is different.
“I wanted to go to these places. I wanted to go to the public service weekend because I wanted to build my network. It was really great for me to gain confidence.”
Learn more
The Office of National Scholarships
UTC Department of Political Science and Public Service
