Shannon Ritchie, Headquarters Staff ‘08-‘10 • Duke University - The Sanford School of Public Policy '12

Prior to City Year, Shannon Ritchie's work often left her feeling uninspired. After being encouraged to apply for a position at City Year by friends, Ritchie found the organization to be a perfect fit. From then on Ritchie spent her time at City Year serving as Special Projects Assistant to the Chief Brand Officer until she began her pursuit for a Masters in Public Policy at The Terry Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.

Motivated in large part by her City Year coworkers, Ritchie witnessed the way many of her mentors in the organization led change and managed challenges. Through these experiences, her pursuit for higher knowledge began.

"While I was at City Year I appreciated the way people with MPP or MPA degrees approached issues and I wanted to have the experience, awareness and skillset that they possessed. I have always been passionate about education innovation, but upon completion of my degree program, I'll also have the tools to approach the issue head-on”.

At The Sanford School of Public Policy, there is an air of passion embodied by all the 60 students who are in Ritchie's class year; who demonstrate their commitment to service in a variety of unique ways. She describes the school as being a perfect environment for a City Year graduate – "Sanford has a variety of coursework and extracurricular activities that cater to civically engaged students. For example, there are course offerings through the Fuqua School of Business on social entrepreneurship and plenty of service opportunities in the Durham community.”

Ritchie is spending her summer as the Policy Intern at MetaMetrics Inc. working on education technology to address summer learning loss. Ritchie's future plans are undecided, but after her time at City Year and Sanford, returning to a mission-driven nonprofit organization is a must.

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