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Riley Nielson-Baker completed their Master of Public Administration (MPA) during a global pandemic. They did so while launching and chairing the Atlantic chapter of Democrats Abroad, competing in the National Annual Public Administration Case Competition, keeping a part-time job and coming out as non-binary. A month before the completion of their classes they had already secured a position with the Nova Scotia Provincial Department of Justice. 聽
鈥淚 was born in Halifax, grew up along the southern Maine鈥揘ew Hampshire border and then I spent the last 10 years in South Florida.鈥� Riley completed their bachelor鈥檚 degree in Public Administration at Florida Atlantic University in 2018. 聽
In the summer leading up to their master's program, Riley was offered a job with the Department of Education in early childhood development to work in the English as an Additional Language Program, 鈥渂asically providing support to newcomers and their families to help them navigate the educational system.鈥� After working there a few months Riley was offered a contract extension doing data analysis with SchoolsPlus, a counselling and resource service for students across the province.聽
Riley began the master's degree before COVID-19 hit and, reflecting on their experiences before and after the outbreak, stated that it was 鈥渢wice as exhausting. I鈥檓 learning less while working twice as hard.鈥�
Handling curveballs
The pandemic threw another curveball Riley鈥檚 way in the spring of 2020. They were about to start an internship with the Department of National Defense when the offer was rescinded. 聽
They were not the only one in that situation, and the MPA office helped them figure out an alternative way to get the valuable experience the MPA internship offers. 鈥淚 was very fortunate: my program and my job [at SchoolsPlus] worked together and kept me on full time for the summer.鈥� 聽
Riley鈥檚 internship involved 鈥渁nalyzing gaps in the education system that helped contribute to a briefing note to address those gaps.鈥�
Riley also faced challenges related to their identity as a non-binary person. Riley shares, 鈥淚鈥檝e been out for two years but I wasn鈥檛 out in my program. I wanted to establish myself first.鈥� They received support after coming out to people in their program, but that didn鈥檛 mean everything went smoothly. Riley recalls that coming out to a professor 鈥渨as a non-issue鈥� but when a co-worker who they weren鈥檛 out to misgendered them in front of him "he really didn鈥檛 know what to do.鈥�
A safe environment
Overall, Riley鈥檚 experience in the MPA program was a good one. When asked what their advice is for incoming students with LGBTIA2S+ identities, Riley said, 鈥淐ome because they are good people. And you鈥檒l be able to get an education in a safe environment that respects your identity and will stand up for you and protect you.鈥� 聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 rare and I got lucky, it鈥檚 not perfect but it鈥檚 good. They are willing to learn, they recognize their biases, and they are willing to work on them.鈥�
Riley is currently working with the Provincial Department of Justice. 鈥淚 am a program coordinator for the independent legal advice program that provides 2鈥�3 hours of free legal advice鈥攏ot representation鈥攆or victims of sexual assault in the province. I鈥檓 working on improving the program by improving data collection, access, representation and just overall knowledge of the program. Like outreach, so we can provide more comprehensive services to more survivors.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 part-time permanent, unionized, in a field that I鈥檓 interested in. It鈥檚 a great environment, a really good group, really diverse, which is nice.鈥� 聽
Now Riley is getting ready for their next big challenge: 鈥淚 recently got an offer to join the 黑料吃瓜网Political Science master鈥檚 program and work on a research project with them.鈥�