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Finding a job after graduation is often a difficult task. It is even more difficult today for college graduates to find a job in their desired field. However, this was not the case for Crystal Cook, ’04. Her hard work and networking throughout her college career lead her to a job two days after her Kent State graduation.
Upon graduation, Cook moved to Columbus and worked for the Ohio House of Representatives as well as the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus.
“I was always interested in who created laws and had wanted to be a part of that decision-making body,” Cook says. |
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While a student at Kent State, Cook participated in Kent State’s Columbus Program in Intergovernmental Issues. This program sends student leaders to serve as interns in Columbus to study public policy-making firsthand. Cook interned the fall semester of 2003 and worked hard to network during her internship.
“Kent State really taught me how to network and the fundamentals in getting a job,” she says. “During my internship, I got a taste of how involved the staff was in creating laws and viewed it as an industry that touched everybody.”
Cook, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science, was politically active on and off campus. She was involved with Black United Students on the political affairs team as well as with the Summit County Young Democrats. |
Crystal Cook working with President Lefton on important legislative issues. |
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Now as senior legislative officer for Kent State, Cook handles state issues and serves as a conduit for state and local government. She advocates for bills that will help Kent State and higher education as a whole and argues against bills that would negatively impact higher education institutions. Although she is based in Columbus, Cook travels back to Kent State once a week to keep close ties with the university.
Now that Cook is back at Kent State as a staff member and soon to be a student pursing a master of public administration degree, she wants to help engage students on political issues.
“I’m in a position now to help bring legislators on campus,” she says. “Coming back to Kent State was a great opportunity for me to be able to exercise my political experience and legislative experience in a way that would benefit my alma mater. I’m contacting the College Republicans and College Democrats to meet with them and see how I can assist them. I want to cultivate their talents and pay it forward as people did for me. My job is a great marriage of my appreciation of higher education and government relations.”
By Anna Riggenbach, ’08
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