In the spring of my junior year at St. Olaf, I spent the semester in Washington, D.C. As part of that semester, I did an internship in the office of U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold focusing on health policy. I had grown up around medicine and health care, immersed in the medical vocabulary of my physician parents. This internship, however, was my first real exposure to health policy. I was fascinated. During my senior year at St. Olaf, with my newfound interest in the policy aspects of health care and public health, I considered different paths for graduate school. Ultimately, I chose a Master of Public Health (MPH) program at the University of Minnesota with a policy focus. It was perfect for me. I’m forever grateful that St. Olaf offered the off-campus experience in D.C. that piqued my health policy interest.

That initial interest in health policy has evolved along with a growing interest in advocacy. The values taught at St. Olaf, together with values taught by family and role models, have influenced me to use my voice as an advocate when change needs to happen. When I speak out as a climate health advocate, when I lead my church’s Social Action Committee, when I fight for health care for underserved patients, some of my advocacy passion and skills come from my time at St. Olaf.

“The values taught at St. Olaf, together with values taught by family and role models, have influenced me to use my voice as an advocate when change needs to happen.”

Kristi Fossum Jones ’01

In this day and age when many question the value of a liberal arts education, I’m so thankful for my St. Olaf education. In college, I took a wide variety of courses ranging from World Religions to American Environmental History. The critical and analytical thinking skills, the writing skills, the exposure to different viewpoints … my liberal arts education has served me well ever since.

St. Olaf was a unique place to go to college. Firmly based in the liberal arts, it’s a campus with beautiful outdoor natural areas, amazing music all the time, religion and faith experiences relevant to daily life, and passionate, caring faculty. I consider myself so lucky to be an Ole!