{"id":895,"date":"2008-10-01T15:20:21","date_gmt":"2008-10-01T15:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/?p=895"},"modified":"2017-05-24T15:28:51","modified_gmt":"2017-05-24T15:28:51","slug":"changing-courses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/2008\/10\/01\/changing-courses\/","title":{"rendered":"Changing Courses"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MaiIn the Hmong culture, young people often follow the path chosen for them by their parents. For Mai Lee, a second-year student from Minneapolis, this meant a career in medicine. Though she had always wanted to study political science, she pushed the idea away and filled her fall semester schedule with science courses. \u201cI was all set to take biology and chemistry and 99% sure about majoring in pre-med,\u201d Lee said. Then she attended the 2008 Republican National Convention, and that experience changed her course.<\/p>\n

Days before the fall semester began, Lee changed her major from pre-med to political science. \u201cAt the convention, I met many people who gave me good advice about a career in politics,\u201d she said. Mai thought her family would disapprove of her decision, but she knew she needed to trust her instincts. \u201cMy dad wasn\u2019t too happy,\u201d she added, \u201cbut I said I just knew pre-med wasn\u2019t what I wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lee said she had always considered herself politically conservative, but the convention gave her an \u201cup-close look at the Republican Party\u201d and persuaded her to consider a career in public or government administration. She wants to change the immigrant mindset that government is \u201cbad\u201d or against them. \u201cI want to help people,\u201d she said, \u201cand show people that government can be good.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a Hmong American woman, Lee acknowledges that she would be a minority in the public administration world. \u201cThere are not many Hmong women in politics,\u201d she said. \u201cI could change that and make a little difference if I get involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the convention, Lee was placed with Fox News as a \u201crunner.\u201d She ran errands, picked up politicians or celebrities, brought coffee to producers, and did whatever else was needed. \u201cAt one point, I had to pass out these ridiculous Fox News hats to convention delegates,\u201d she said. \u201cIf they didn\u2019t want it, I was told just to put it in their faces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her convention experience not only influenced Lee\u2019s future, it also encouraged her to become a more active citizen. She\u2019s joined the Augsburg College Republicans and says she is watching the news and reading the paper more. \u201cI\u2019m doing what voters should do,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

While she plans to support John McCain, Lee says she will still not be discouraged from pursuing a career in public service if the presidency goes to the Democrats. \u201cIf McCain doesn\u2019t win the election, it won\u2019t be over for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting Active in Politics<\/a> (Ben Krouse-Gagne \u201911)<\/p>\n

Changing Courses<\/a> (Mai Lee \u201911)<\/p>\n

Because I Can<\/a> (Eric Franzen MAE \u201910)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the Hmong culture, young people often follow the path chosen for them by their parents. For Mai Lee, a second-year student from Minneapolis, this meant a career in medicine. Though she had always wanted to study political science, she pushed the idea away and filled her fall semester schedule with science courses. \u201cI was <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[38],"class_list":["post-895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured-stories","tag-fall-2008"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=895"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7873,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895\/revisions\/7873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}