Notes from the Field: Sarah Colon '17

Sarah Colon ’17 interned at New America during the 2015 fall term with support from the Peter McSpadden Public Affairs Fund.

New America is a nonpartisan think tank that focuses on a range of public policy issues, including international security, technology, asset building, health, gender, energy, education, and the economy. Its goal is to foster innovation, discussion, and implementation of new ideas in a world that is in constant evolution. Specifically, New America’s Health and Medicine Program concentrates on creating policy recommendations that will help better harness new technologies and confront changing health challenges.

As a Health Policy intern, Sarah’s responsibilities included writing blog posts for the website and articles for the Huffington Post, attending and writing summaries of events, updating social media, and drafting grant proposals. Sarah and her fellow interns also worked on a program proposal to expand the reach of New America by identifying and researching the most pressing health issues that the program should address.

On the first day of the internship, Sarah recalls attending a book discussion by a former New America Fellow about poverty in the modern age and her nerves were quickly replaced with excitement upon hearing how the author’s work at New America translated into such an “amazing outcome.”

Sarah describes the opportunity to attend numerous conferences and events on a variety of topics, such as polio eradication, healthcare reform, non-communicable diseases, as the most rewarding part of her internship.

“It is inspiring to be able to see all that is being done in these realms first hand. These events have been an incredible way to learn more about health policy, and to see where I could take my own career.”

- Submitted by Rachel Favors ’18, Student Program Assistant for Communications