Shawn Amer
Year of WAIP Fellowship: Fall 2003
Job Title & Organization: Graduate Student, Rush University
Why I Do What I Do: I am involved in healthcare because it affects everyone at one point or another, and offers an opportunity to contribute to the good of society.
Last Good Book Read: This Is Where I Leave You or The Glass Castle
Last Good Movie Seen: Up in the Air
Hobby: Cooking with my husband, baking, reading, running with my dog
Latest Personal or Professional Accomplishment: I got married to a fabulous guy, and I began a graduate program to make a career switch into the area of healthcare administration and management.
Favorite Quote: “Nothing easy was ever worth a damn.” – Woody Hayes
What was your motivation for participating in WAIP? Participating in the WAIP afforded me the opportunity to see what Washington is all about: the “energy” of the city, what goes on there, and gave me a taste for the various factors that must be considered when forming public policy.
What is your favorite WAIP memory? Exploring DC with my cohort, making group dinners together, going to the Ohio State bar to watch football games together, and part of the cohort spending Thanksgiving in DC to finish our policy papers and celebrate the holiday together. As you can probably tell, I got the opportunity to hang out with some great people; one of my best friends today was my WAIP roommate in DC!
Briefly describe your career path and how you ended up where you are today? After graduation, I pursued a career in sales for a market research company, where I sold information databases to consumer packaged goods companies (like Kellogg and Sargento). It did not take me too long to determine that sales was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, and instead moved into an analyst role at the same company. However, during this time, I had a longing to do something more impactful, and decided to pursue a past dream of healthcare administration. I plan to begin my career in management, but hope to transition to the policy side of the healthcare industry one day.
Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give to current and future WAIP participants? I would tell participants to take advantage of all DC has to offer. Make sure you focus on exploring the city as much as you do your policy paper! Also, in terms of the internship, think about what kind of organization aligns with your interests, and not necessarily what will sound the most impressive to your friends and family. Looking back, I wish I would have asked for an internship that better aligned with my interests. At the end of the day, all internships are the essentially the same, so you want to be in an environment that is meaningful to you above all else.
What is the most valuable thing you took away from your WAIP experience? In addition to the new friends, I developed my analytical writing skills in a way that I never would have had I not participated in WAIP. I was a business major at OSU, and simply was not challenged in my writing until I met Dr. Boles.
What would your WAIP classmates be most surprised to know about you now? I am not sure there is anything my WAIP classmates would be surprised to know about me. While much has changed in my life (I got married, moved to Chicago, etc.), I think in many ways I am still the same person they knew way back when.
Click here to contact Shawn Amer
Job Title & Organization: Graduate Student, Rush University
Why I Do What I Do: I am involved in healthcare because it affects everyone at one point or another, and offers an opportunity to contribute to the good of society.
Last Good Book Read: This Is Where I Leave You or The Glass Castle
Last Good Movie Seen: Up in the Air
Hobby: Cooking with my husband, baking, reading, running with my dog
Latest Personal or Professional Accomplishment: I got married to a fabulous guy, and I began a graduate program to make a career switch into the area of healthcare administration and management.
Favorite Quote: “Nothing easy was ever worth a damn.” – Woody Hayes
What was your motivation for participating in WAIP? Participating in the WAIP afforded me the opportunity to see what Washington is all about: the “energy” of the city, what goes on there, and gave me a taste for the various factors that must be considered when forming public policy.
What is your favorite WAIP memory? Exploring DC with my cohort, making group dinners together, going to the Ohio State bar to watch football games together, and part of the cohort spending Thanksgiving in DC to finish our policy papers and celebrate the holiday together. As you can probably tell, I got the opportunity to hang out with some great people; one of my best friends today was my WAIP roommate in DC!
Briefly describe your career path and how you ended up where you are today? After graduation, I pursued a career in sales for a market research company, where I sold information databases to consumer packaged goods companies (like Kellogg and Sargento). It did not take me too long to determine that sales was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, and instead moved into an analyst role at the same company. However, during this time, I had a longing to do something more impactful, and decided to pursue a past dream of healthcare administration. I plan to begin my career in management, but hope to transition to the policy side of the healthcare industry one day.
Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give to current and future WAIP participants? I would tell participants to take advantage of all DC has to offer. Make sure you focus on exploring the city as much as you do your policy paper! Also, in terms of the internship, think about what kind of organization aligns with your interests, and not necessarily what will sound the most impressive to your friends and family. Looking back, I wish I would have asked for an internship that better aligned with my interests. At the end of the day, all internships are the essentially the same, so you want to be in an environment that is meaningful to you above all else.
What is the most valuable thing you took away from your WAIP experience? In addition to the new friends, I developed my analytical writing skills in a way that I never would have had I not participated in WAIP. I was a business major at OSU, and simply was not challenged in my writing until I met Dr. Boles.
What would your WAIP classmates be most surprised to know about you now? I am not sure there is anything my WAIP classmates would be surprised to know about me. While much has changed in my life (I got married, moved to Chicago, etc.), I think in many ways I am still the same person they knew way back when.
Click here to contact Shawn Amer
