Scout Hartley

I have three directions in which I'm looking. First, I would like to work in the field of foster care advocacy as an administrator or manager in some fashion. I currently work as an advocate for two different groups and appreciate it because I was in foster care as a teenager, so improving the system is a salient goal of mine. Working with either one of those two groups would be advantageous to me because they both work with official stakeholders (members of the House of Representatives, administrators in the Department for Children and Families, officials of the Children's Bureau, researchers and interest groups, etc.), but it also means that my efforts are likely to be excelled, so the effects of my work would be felt faster and more strongly.

The second direction I may go is in the field of senior health care, possibly dealing with Alzheimer's/dementia patients or research. I currently work as an Activities Coordinator with residents in an assisted living setting and in specialty care for Alzheimer's/dementia. I love this work; I am happy everyday to go in and a little sad when I must leave. My job is to engage with seniors and make them happy. The job is also (in a good way) intellectually and emotionally challenging, especially with the dementia patients. You have to constantly keep in mind the behaviors of each resident, the manifestations and symptoms of dementia, and how to properly engage with each person. Besides my love for the work, it is also a field that is expected to explode in the next 5 to 10 years, so that represents a good opportunity for me.

Lastly, I dream about getting my PhD in Public Administration and becoming a academician. I really do enjoy the field of study enough to dedicate my time to teaching and doing research. Working in academia would also mean that I wouldn't have to leave school, which is unfortunately my future now. I love everything about being in college (except the costs!); the environment and culture, being around so many scholars and professionals, and having access to so much research and information are are invaluable to me and the only places I can embrace that all are colleges.

My interests are to focus on non-profit organizational management and health services administration because those two fields are where I have both experiences and aspirations. I am particularly interested in studying budgeting and its related implications such as the effects on the formal and informal aspects of an organization, the relationship between budgeting and operations, and the processes of planning the budget. I have also begun to become interested in information management and how the role information plays in an organization. These are two components of administration in general that are misunderstood, insufficient, and problematic.

Aside from what knowledge I gain from my classes and books, I also have keen interests in national and international news. I follow foreign policy closely and see a lot of the lessons I learn manifest on the foreign stage. For example, at the core of foreign relations there are coalitions and teams with mutual goals. Coalition-building and maintenance is an essential feature to a well-functioning organization. Another example is the pluralistic nature of diplomacy, which is similar to the process of decision making in an organization.