Olivia O’Connell
We’re excited to officially kick off our 2025 Holiday Giving Campaign, once again dedicated to supporting our At-Large Fellows Program.
To start the season, our November Alumni Spotlight features Olivia O’Connell, an At-Large alum from the University of Michigan and a member of last year’s cohort.
This year, the Advisory Board is generously matching all gifts up to $3,500. With applications to the At-Large Program increasing by more than 400%, your support is more important than ever in helping us provide this opportunity to students across the country who might not otherwise have access.
And to add some fun, we’re launching a new School Pride Challenge! The alma mater that raises the most will earn naming rights for one of next year’s At-Large Fellows. Every contribution—no matter the amount—helps us get closer to that goal and makes a meaningful difference.
What are you doing now?
I was selected as an At-Large Presidential Fellow while in my senior year at the University of Michigan. As the Fellowship finished up, I graduated with my BA with high honors in history and political science. Now, I am back in Washington, D.C. earning my Master’s in Public Policy (MPP) at Georgetown University. During the fall 2025 semester, I served as the Disability Policy Intern for the minority staff of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, led by. Ranking Member Bernie Sanders. I am looking to start a full-time job in the coming months.
How did you hear about the At-Large Fellows program and what inspired you to apply?
I stumbled upon the program online, while reading about post-graduate scholarship opportunities. I learned that many former Presidential Fellows had gone on to earn degrees at top universities and to pursue meaningful work in public service. As I began to read about the opportunities that the program offered, it genuinely felt like such a perfect fit for me. For several years, I had wanted to conduct research on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and to better understand its funding structure and implementation challenges. Here was an opportunity for me to conduct that research and to connect my passion for disability policy issues and lived experiences as a visually impaired woman with my interest in academic research and professional development; I decided to apply.
What is your favorite memory from the Fellowship?
My favorite memory from the Fellowship was all the friends I made at our conference in Washington, D.C. It was absolutely wonderful to connect with leading policy experts, to get a behind-the-scenes peek at working in Washington, D.C., and to meet scholars from all over the world. All of us became friends, and we still follow each other on social media and chat with one another where we can. CSPC offered us a strong communal foundation as young professionals looking to start our careers.
How has the Fellowship supported your academic or career goals?
The CSPC Presidential Fellowship allowed me to delve deeply into a topic in public policy that I was passionate about and that was personal to me. I felt a sense of purpose working on my paper throughout the school year and enjoyed presenting on it during our conference. The sense of confidence I gained as I worked to connect my personal passions with the world of professional policy provided me with a strong starting point in my early professional career. I know that the skills I developed in this program helped me immensely during my application process with the Senate HELP Committee, and the greater understanding of disability policy issues that I gained while conducting my research has helped me to thrive throughout my internship as well.
If you could have any job, what would it be?
If I could have any job in the next few years, I would want to work at the intersection of disability and education policy issues and global affairs, advocating for access to education for children with disabilities both in the U.S. and abroad. I hope to work with an office on Capitol Hill that cares about these issues and to support the advancement of legislation that supports the critical work of the Department of Education and its offices of Special Education and Rehabilitive Services and Office of Civil Rights. I genuinely enjoy working in high-stakes, fast-paced, and challenge-driven environments; My absolute dream would be to one day serve as a senior policy advisor in the West Wing, supporting a President and administration which I genuinely believe in.