"I was working full-time but I needed to pivot my career - UNI saw the potential in me and gave me an affordable, flexible way to do what I needed to get where I needed to be. The professors at UNI gave us the tools and theories then allowed us the flexibility to apply them to our interests. The work I did for my thesis project is now informing a major security initiative for our nation's capital. Washington DC draws the best of the best in public policy - from the Ivy League, Georgetown, etc. - and I'm really proud to come to that table from Northern Iowa and show that we belong here."