By Mayah Nachman
For The Diamondback
When University of Maryland sophomore Jack Henick walks home from his Tuesday night class, he calls his parents to update them about what he learned that day.
The public policy major often highlights the guest speakers featured in his Civic Leadership and Human Services course, which was created last year. The class is taught by Maryland Del. Emily Shetty (D-Montgomery).
“I would say [Shetty] is an unbelievable teacher as well as a delegate,” Henick said. “She’s always looking to help us develop professionally as well as academically.”
Shetty’s course serves as a seminar for this university’s Maryland Fellows program, a year-long academic program formed in 2023 that prepares students to work in public service on a local or statewide level.
Sabrina LaBold, the academic and student affairs manager of the fellows program, said the program helps students secure and prepare for internships. The program provides workshops in interviewing, resume-writing and other professional development skills, LaBold said.
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“The Fellows Program really connects the academics to the real world, and just exposes students to the world of government,”Jillian Waxman, a teaching assistant for the Civic Leadership and Human Services class, said.
The class consists of 23 students majoring in a variety of topics, including psychology and architecture, according to Waxman, a senior psychology major.
The course provides an overview of components of state and local government through the perspective of human services, Shetty told The Diamondback.
Shetty is one of three delegates representing Maryland’s 18th district and has been a member of the Maryland General Assembly since 2019. While attending law school at Catholic University in 2008, she learned more about how developing laws could impact the lives of a wide range of people.
“I started learning about policy and how policy could really impact people on a broader level, and fell in love with that,” Shetty said.
Shetty has brought many guest speakers to her class who provide their perspectives on different aspects of public service.
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“We often have really incredible guest speakers who join the class who share their insights, provide internship opportunities and provide some career advice and guidance, but are also able to give an insider’s perspective,” Shetty said.
Shetty said they had a class period where students developed their negotiating skills by acting as Maryland House Appropriations Committee members deciding on the upcoming budget.
Students in the course said they have found it “invaluable” to learn from Shetty, someone who has real life experience in public policy.
“Learning from someone with that type of experience and that type of real world experience right now is just something that I have found so beneficial and so interesting,” Henick said.
