2007 New Leader Spotlight: Anjali Shenoy   School: University of Michigan Law School Program: 2007 CPL New Leader

How have you been a leader in your community?

While in undergrad at Bryn Mawr, I served as class president, represented my class in our Self Governing Association. During this time I helped to bring important student issues to the SGA, including the lack of student space on campus for student's to meet, relax and hang out. Since then I have made an effort to stay involved, whether on campus or in my community.

During the past year in law school at the University of Michigan, I served as the 1L representative to the Women Law Students Association, helping to bring speakers to campus and to set up forums to discuss women's issues on campus and in the legal profession.This coming year I plan to run for co-president of the Women Law Students Association in order to stay involved and promote women's issues in the legal profession and society in general.

What are your long-term leadership interests?

I hope to one day work for my community to improve opportunity and access to quality public education. I believe strongly that we need leaders not just at the top, in Congress or the executive branch, but also at the grassroots and local levels, working to make small ripples that will one day become big waves. I want very much to work in a small city to try and implement changes in funding and structure of schools to ensure that every school is funded completely and to the best of the country's ability so that every student is receiving an equal opportunity to study, work hard and excel in school and in life.

What does “Progressive” mean to you?

Progressive means moving forward - always seeing the bigger picture and moving forward towards a more inclusive and just society. I think progressive involves being able to see the similarities between our past (if you don't remember the past, you're doomed to repeat it) and current and future issues. For instance, being able to see the similarities between civil rights in the 60s and LGBTQ rights today - there are so many similarities and it is so important that we recognize when people's rights are being trampled and when people are being excluded, even if their plight seems different. I think progressive means seeing past the small differences to the larger similarities, which involves knowing what happened in the past, but always forging forward with that knowledge.

What long-term change do you want to help bring to your state?

I would really like to bring a change to the importance Pennsylvania (and the country as a whole) gives to education. We all agree that we want our children and our families to be educated, but it is crazy that not everyone sees then that that feeling can be applied across the board. We ALL want it, so why should we want it just for ourselves? I want to bring changes so that when we fund education, we fund it for the national benefit, not the individual or just local benefit. Thus, I want to implement schemes where funding is done from the national and state level, with minimal local funding to maintain contact between communities and their schools, but also to invest in this greater idea of the importance of education for our nation and its future.

How do you envision the New Leaders Program in helping you achieve your goals?

I already think I've become more confident in my ability to achieve my goal and in my formalized thinking about my goal of equalizing educational opportunity. I can think through what I'm interested in and really formulate some kind of plan of what I would like to happen, which is important. I also feel much more comfortable speaking about educational issues, on the spot sometimes, because CPL trainings often put us in a time crunch, which has helped me think faster on my feet.

What did you get out of the New Leaders Program?

I really gained a lot of confidence in my own ability, power and voice about these issues. I also think I gained a lot from the people I met, who have brought so much passion that it kind of renewed my own passion in education issues. It's particularly nice to be around people who are younger than me and still much more idealistic because it reminds me of how much more idealistic I used to be and fires me up to remain idealistic, even when it is difficult to do so.