After studying the issue for two years, education blogger Justin Bathon concludes: “For a relatively low price (200 million/year) we could potentially train a consistent crop of educated and informed bureaucrats that could make our government better from the inside. I think that is a chance worth taking.” Read his post on The Edjurist.

Nhu-Y Ngo of The Blaaag agrees and emphasizes the role that young people have played in getting the Academy this far: “One of the best things about this initiative is that it has been very grassroots, especially with young people pushing these bills through.” Read her post on The Blaag.

I was in Uganda working on malaria prevention and I want to go back soon. But first I’m interning in DC, in the final days leading up to inauguration to help build the U.S. Public Service Academy. Here’s the short version of how I got here.

After helping to start an anti-malaria bednet distribution program in Uganda, I graduated from Swarthmore College and received a social entrepreneur fellowship to continue the work. I started learning more about social entrepreneurship, which is all about using entrepreneurial principles to benefit society. I was listening to podcasts about social entrepreneurs at Social Edge on the blog New Entrepreneurs when I stumbled across a podcast with Chris Myers Asch, founder of the U.S. Public Service Academy. I loved the idea and I wanted to get involved, so I went to the website, applied for an internship, and came to DC.

A few reasons why I am excited about the U.S. Public Service Academy:

1. This is an amazing way to train a new generation of leaders in public service

2. Young people want to serve this country and this will give them the opportunity

3. The benefits to society are enormous. A cost-benefit analysis conducted at the George Washington University’s Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration found that the economic benefits of the Academy outweighed the costs by an annual amount of $50 million. That’s $50 million a year in benefits to society.

Want to get involved? There are so many ways to help out!

I came to Washington, D.C. about 48 hours ago. Born and raised in the Evergreen state (that’s Washington State to you Easterners out there), I boarded a plane and skipped a few time zones to come work as a Public Service Academy Intern. It is my last semester of my undergraduate education and I could not think of a better way to spend it.

The Public Service Academy landed in my mailbox a little over a year ago, in a Time magazine article. Then the idea popped up in class discussions and, well, I was hooked. I came to D.C. to work as an intern, but even more so to help make the Public Service Academy a tangible institution for our country’s future leaders.

I have said it before and I’ll say again, if the Public Service Academy existed four years, it would have been my choice for my undergraduate education. I hope that can become a reality for the next generation very soon. Furthermore, I look forward to a great semester in the “other” Washington with the hard working individuals behind the scenes.