My name is Andrew Bower and I am a 21 year old student of Shippensburg University. My major at Shippensburg University is political science, and to answer the question that everyone always asks: no, I do not plan to run for office. I have no interest in making policy or nominating Supreme Court justices. Those are things that should be left for better men than me. I prefer to focus my time on the political side of government, working with campaigns and analyzing the actions, statements, and shoes of our elected officials. However, that is not to say that my interest lies entirely on the political side of government. I do have an interest in the finer points of government, for example, emergency management. When I was first given a tour of the Department of Public Safety I was fascinated. Just in the 2 hours that I was in the building for a presentation, my attention was captured. I wanted to know more about what happens when someone calls 911, or who takes care of the roads during a blizzard. These things may seem like the mundane workings of bureaucracy to most people, but to me they were a behind the scenes look at some of the most important functions of our local government. Up until then, I had thought that FEMA was the only emergency management agency. I thought if a disaster was bad that FEMA would come into the area of disaster and clean up. I also thought that each police station had its own 911 center, and calls were routed to it based on proximity. I was very wrong. To learn that there is one center for a whole county boggled my mind. I have learned a lot about the Department of Public Safety just in the past few months preparing for my internship here, and I am sure that I have a lot of learning left to do.
