Student Spotlight: Bonnie Tang (MPA 2024)
What motivated you to attend Wagner, a school of public service?
Urban Policy is what initially motivated me to attend Wagner! Housing has always been an ongoing discussion in NYC and being a native New Yorker, I’ve always known Wagner as the best school to explore this topic further. The school also has abundant resources that help students explore their interests. Although I started at Wagner with a Policy specialization, I switched to Social Impact, Innovation, and Investment (SI3) after my first semester because I was drawn to its entrepreneurial nature. Ultimately, my goal is to make the most impact I can in my community and I knew that if I went to Wagner, I would learn all the tools necessary.
You are a member of the Pan Asian Student Alliance (PASA), a student-led group that engages the Wagner community to raise the visibility of AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) social and policy issues around the world. What are the benefits of getting involved with this organization?
Being a part of PASA, you’ll meet people from different Asian backgrounds other than your own, and from different cities as well. It’s always interesting to compare and contrast different enclaves in one city with another. At the same time, you’ll learn about different Asian communities within NYC and try some of their foods at PASA events. There are also discussions on policies that impact AAPI communities in NYC, as well as other volunteer opportunities. Plus, everyone is super friendly, and there’s a lot of crisscrossing of students between different programs within Wagner so you might learn even about a different specialization or degree!
Looking ahead to the rest of spring 2023 as well as fall 2023 semester, how can students and alumni get involved with UPSA and PASA? Are there any initiatives or events you are looking forward to?
I’m especially proud of the Lunar New Year event and the walking tours! It’s so important to connect Wagner students with community leaders to learn more about surrounding neighborhoods and communities. The walking tours have helped bridge that connection while showcasing different local businesses. I’m thrilled that all of our events try to spotlight them. For example, during our Chinatown walking tours, we got different foods from different restaurants for Wagnerds to try like sponge cakes from Kam Hing Bakery, and dumplings from Tasty Dumpling. The Chinatown walking tour was led by a local community leader, Wellington Chen (Executive Director of the Chinatown BID) while Amber Yoon (Director of Community Engagement for Assembly member Ed Braunstein), led the Flushing walking tour.
Reflecting on your experience at Wagner, what skills or lessons have you gained from your grad school journey?
At Wagner, we're taught to be outspoken leaders and innovators in our communities. In my classes, I’ve been able to learn the tools necessary to create truly inclusive, empowering, and impactful spaces. At the same time, kindness is key to all of that, and is something that we should be practicing as students because we need to uplift each other as peers. We’re all at Wagner for different reasons, but overall, we want to make an impact on the world, so some of us might even run into each other after graduation in our professional lives.
As a first-generation graduate student, I wasn’t sure what to expect in graduate school besides knowing what the curriculum was going to be. Little did I know I would end up finding my voice at Wagner and finding my community at PASA!