Description of the video:

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My name is Erin Stojic and I graduated from

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the MPA program in May of 2018

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and now I am working as the deputy clerk treasurer for the town of Highland.

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Before I started the MPA, I was kind of like

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I don't know what I want to do for my career

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And so I knew that getting a master's degree was going to help me

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to be able to kind of break past

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that level that I had gotten to in my career.

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The MPA allowed me to consider all

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of the other options that would be available to me.

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Now I can put on my resume that I have a master's degree,

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and that's something that certain jobs require.

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Because I was older when I did it,

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I really wanted to get the most out of it that I could

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apply that to a new career or a different career

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and I think that being in the SPEA and just having all those practitioners

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and all of those excellent faculty allowed me to do that.

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I know that it has definitely advanced and elevated me

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because for one, I got a different job right away

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doing this job, and I would have never known about this job

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or been interested in this job if it hadn't been for

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what I was learning and who I was networking with in the SPEA.

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I also am running for local office now, which is very surreal,

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and I don't think I would have done it

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without completing this master's degree,

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mostly because that gives me the confidence to feel like I can do that job,

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I do have that skill set, I do have that knowledge

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and it really stemmed from entering into that program.