If you’ve met Julia even for a moment, you know that she is extremely interested in politics, and her latest puppy is named Hillary. The pair got to meet her political namesake a few times in the past year, when Julia interned as Communications Coordinator for the Florida for Hillary campaign office.
“That was the coolest thing I’ve ever done,” Julia gushes. “It’s been a highlight of my life. I met so many people who were so cool and who will be good people to know in the future. I have definitely grown up from that. I was around adults all day in an office doing intense work that I didn’t know that much about, that I had to learn about right there while I was on the job. I think that was really my transition into adulthood - working on the campaign.”
Julia, who was the first intern hired for the Florida campaign, recognizes that not many 17-year-olds would have the chance or the aptitude to take on a challenge of that nature. “I couldn’t even vote, so I felt like I had to do my part by influencing people and campaigning. I did a lot of media work. I ran the Twitter account for Hillary for Florida sometimes. I had to organize news clippings. My job at rallies was to interview people and check in the press. I got to meet a lot of the press people behind the scenes, and that’s something I might want to do.”
As a result, Julia knows how to manage her time, set priorities, network and meet deadlines. Despite those skills, she was slightly floundering when deciding where to go to college.
“I cannot believe how helpful the Shorecrest College Center was. I didn’t really know what I wanted. I thought I’d be at a small liberal arts college in the south. When I started working for the campaign, I realized there’s so much more out there, so many different backgrounds, so many different places I can go and have opportunities. When I started looking at west coast schools, the College Center was so supportive and helped me get into my Early Decision school.”
At Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, Julia plans to take advantage of the Communications and Political Science programs.
“It’s not a huge university, but it’s not small. I think it’s like the perfect fit for me and I think L.A. is the perfect area for me. There’s a big sense of community there and it’s so diverse and there are so many things to do there.”