McGeorge MPA Alumni Testimonials - YouTube

Hi, my name is Raina Ryan. I graduated with my MPA in 2020. I chose McGeorge because I have a  

background in environmental science and California really sets the nation for environmental  

sets the stage for environmental policy in  the nation and I wanted to be at the heart of  

things in Sacramento and the MPA program here  at McGeorge is set in a law school and having  

those law professors and classes available to  you is really an advantage. Hi my name is Max Huynh  

I graduated in 2021 and I decided to get my MPA  because I wanted to get involved in the public  

sector and I thought McGeorge would be the perfect  place to do that. Hi my name is Katie ramsey I am a  

McGeorge graduate of 2019. I received my Master's  in Public Administration with the concentration of  

Health Policy Finance and Management. I chose  to come to Sacramento from the East Coast  

because I had the environmental background and I knew I wanted to get more involved with the policy  

aspect of things and California just it sets the  stage for policy nationally. I picked McGeorge well  

first because of the practicality of it. I work a  full-time job and I didn't want to stop working my  

full-time job to go to school so that was also a  big component. I'd also had a friend who'd went  

to McGeorge and he had nothing but great things to  say about McGeorge so I decided it was the perfect  

program for me. I am born and raised in Lodi,  California which is not very far from Sacramento.  

This campus again really drew me for all  of the networking events for being a part of  

the service driven community environment that is  here on campus, all of the collective work that the  

entire campus and community do together. A lot of  the the networking, a lot of the new policies, a lot  

of the cool stuff that kind of disseminates into  the other states and disseminates into the larger  

federal government comes from Sacramento so  I think it's a great place to be if you're  

wanting to start a career in the public sector.  I am currently a program director for Positions  

for Healthy California which is a non-profit  association here in Sacramento. So shortly  

before graduation I was able to accept my first  position with the state of California. I wrote  

administered grants and the work I did at McGeorge,  the writing, the public speaking skills really  

helped me out with that and the professors were  super supportive during the program. They helped  

me kind of map my career path, they really gave  me the confidence I needed to understand how to  

go out and interview how to navigate the state  system and recently I've accepted a position  

with the Department of Toxic Substances Control as  an environmental scientist and I really

contribute that to what I learned at McGeorge and  you know the support of the faculty, our programs  

really applied so you know they were more than  happy to help me tailor my coursework to my areas  

of interest and just the support I received  both during the program and after graduation  

So I currently work for a non-profit of physicians  for Healthy California. We administer a grant  

for physicians and dentists to see  Medi-Cal patients. I've had a long  

history with you know with being on Medi-Cal  myself and it's really tied to my interest  

just because I can help physicians do their  jobs and I can help people on Medi-Cal  

receive the care they need. Yeah you know the  professors at McGeorge really really helped me  

Professor Kirlin really helps you understand  the policy framework and how to navigate  

you know technical problems and things. I've been  able to kind of connect every class to what I've  

been doing so classes like leadership  I've been able to use in the workplace.  

Classes like the Finance class  I've been able to use in the workplace and  

so it's all very interconnected that everything  is really practical they give you the kind of  

the ideological frameworks but if you're  working a full-time job and if you're in the  

public sector or even in the private sector like  consulting you really have the opportunity to use  

what you've learned in classes. I really took  advantage of all of the networking and career  

opportunities that they have here at McGeorge.  The Career Development Center was helpful in  

getting essays, written resumes, getting the orange  binder and really it had the orange binder has a  

lot of different helpful tasks in helping you  along the way through your career development  

and finding new opportunities for yourself. So I   networked with my teachers, I met them after class  

I networked with my peers, met with them  after class and really just got to know each  

person. I mean I use those relationships every  single day to help me as well as help others

you.