When Patricia Mengue Bindjeme, a junior majoring in mechanical engineering, went to classes, her professors would sometimes point out how engineers’ decisions can have life-or-death consequences. But the message really hit home this past summer when Mengue Bindjeme interned at the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA), working on the Baltimore Red Line Project, a recently revived transportation project to create faster and more convenient links between the eastern and western parts of the city.
“I saw people talking about the journeys they had to make coming from West Baltimore to work at someplace like Johns Hopkins,” she says. “That’s a lot of travel.” Mengue Bindjeme realized how engineers working to ensure the safety, availability, and reliability of transportation could make huge differences to people’s everyday lives. “Having another person’s life in my hands is nerve-racking,” she says. “But the change I can make for someone else is really beautiful and impactful.”
Real tasks and real things
Mengue Bindjeme secured her internship at MTA through the Maryland Public Service Scholars (MPSS) program, a 12-week summer fellowship program funded by the state of Maryland and administered by the Shriver Center at UMBC. The goal of the program is to provide students across Maryland the opportunity to develop as future leaders in the state’s public and social sectors.
Mengue Bindjeme was one of five UMBC students who completed the program this past summer. The others were Tasnim Rushdan, a senior global studies major; Aziza Mattaka, a junior global studies major; Dionne Cole, a senior biology and social work major; and Samantha Fu, a junior psychology and public policy major.
The students wrapped up the fellowship with real-world experience on their résumés. “From day one, I was having real tasks and learning real things,” says Rushdan, who worked as an international affairs fellow at the Maryland Office of the Secretary of State. The international division of the office was small—with just two full-time employees—so as an intern Rushdan was immediately involved in important work such as reviewing agreements, organizing meetings, and writing memos for Maryland Secretary of State Susan C. Lee and Governor Wes Moore.
Rushdan helped organize the Pan African City Exposition to facilitate discussions with international delegates around ideas for improving economic development and making housing affordable. She also met with embassy officials, business leaders, and students from around the world.
Mattaka worked in the Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention and Policy, working with victims of crime on their compensation claims. “Sometimes when I’d call people, they would go into their stories,” she says. “It really put into perspective my privilege, but it was also rewarding to be in a place to assist.”
Pursuing the same mission
The students faced challenges throughout their fellowships, from the sometimes heavy nature of the work, to the pressures to balance their schedules, produce deliverables, and present in front of the leaders of Maryland government.
They found support from program staff, the mentors they were matched with in their workplaces, and from each other. Each Friday, all the program participants met together and attended workshops to talk through their experiences and learn new skills for success.
“We realized that, even though we come from diverse backgrounds, we were there for the same mission. We’re facing many of the same challenges, and we’re all in it together,” Rushdan says.
Clockwise from top left: Samantha Fu, Patricia Mengue Bindjeme, Aziza Mattaka, Dionne Cole, and Tasnim Rushdan.
“I made lifelong friends who are supporting me, and really wanting me to succeed,” says Fu, who worked at LET’S GO Boys and Girls, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering economic success in underserved communities through STEM education and workforce development.
Throughout the summer, the MPSS scholars pushed themselves out of their comfort zones and discovered how much they had to contribute.
“Before the program, I was afraid of public speaking,” says Fu. “By the end of the program, I was able to confidently present a grant proposal in front of a panel of nonprofit leaders. My group and I even won the grant proposal competition.”
Confident and capable
Cole, who worked at the Maryland Department of Health drafting policy recommendations for behavioral health care access for prison populations and others in the criminal justice system, says she feels much more confident after the summer. “Fear paralyzes us. But it’s like, no, we’re actually capable. You just have to look through the fear and realize, ‘Oh, snap, I could actually do this.’”
The group also ended the summer more confident of their commitment to public service.
“The public service sector truly is limitless and it affords any individual the opportunity to make a difference in their own way,” Cole says.
“Public service calls everyone,” Mattaka adds. “We are a collective, and society works better if we have people willing to develop the skills of leadership and empathy to do these jobs. Those are the skills we cultivated a lot this summer.”
Tags: CAHSS, CNMS, COEIT, Fall 2024, Impact, MPSS, Shriver Center
