Personal Statement
Greetings! Welcome to my Public Administration ePortfolio website. My name is Joana Servando Cruz and this portfolio was created to showcase the work I have done independently and collectively throughout my graduate school journey. My college experience has been guided by the idea that I will one day have a career which allows me to contribute to the enrichment of society by serving the community. Trying to manifest this ambition has kept me busy through out the last seven years.
During my undergraduate years at San Francisco State University, I worked hard and played hard. The decision to double major in Political Science and Asian American Studies has shaped me to become a well-rounded academic, as well as to realize my passion in enhancing the community through public service. While maintaining a place on the Dean’s List for three consecutive years, I was also an active member of both the Beta Phi Sorority, the Political Science Student Association, and a teacher's aide for Professor Danilo Begonia. Outside of school, I was involved in various extra-curricular activities and community service events including Relay for Life, City of Hope, SF City Clean-UP, and coordinated the "One Beat" fundraiser showcase for the San Francisco Chapter of the Humanist Movement.
In addition to these endeavors, I had the special opportunity to intern with the Program Department at the Greater Bay Area’s Make-A-Wish Foundation. From this experience, I got an inside look of the unique organizational dynamic that makes the dreams of children with life-threatening illnesses come true. Truly a collaborative effort focused on keeping the integrity of its mission alive, I have witnessed these modern-day magic makers transform the intricate process of wish granting into a passionate livelihood. It was from this experience with the Greater Bay Area Make-A-Wish Foundation that I became inspired to focus my energy and academic prospects towards building a career that allowed me to work in and with the community and to find an organization that will foster my passion to create positive manifestations of love for people.
Upon completing my bachelor’s degree, I had the most amazing experience working with a particular segment of the community I hold very close to my heart – Asian Americans battling substance addiction. Having seen the destructiveness of addiction within my own family and community, the need to counteract the deteriorative quality of substance addiction inspired me to obtain a better understanding of the nature of addiction, its relation to Asian American psyche, and to discover ways to empower individuals to manifest their own destinies.
Working at Asian American Residential Recovery Services gave me a new, more open-minded way at looking and approaching addiction. The concepts of the therapeutic community and cultural competence has instilled in me a belief that problems faced by a community can be solved within the community. From a public administration perspective, it is through my experience with AARRS that I became more exposed to the difficulties of running a sucessful non-profit. Faced with budget constraints, the issue of employee burn-out, and the difficulty of obtaining the resources to stay at the cutting edge of therapeutic approaches, I channeled the program's lessons to help me better understand the complexities of the non-profit world.
As graduation has finally arrived, I know that my MPA experience has given me the in-demand skills needed to be a successful public service agent. My education and work experience have made me well qualified for a management position in either the non-profit or public sector. Included in my five-year plan are aspirations to start my own non-profit. With the tools and skills I have learned from the program, I plan to create a program that infuses the concepts of the therapeutic community, the healing quality of art/music appreciation, and the openess catalyzed by traveling to help youth to become more tolerant, happy, and sucessful human beings.