Associate Spotlights of the Week

Junior Associate: Julia Hellmich

Where are you from?

I'm a rising senior at Cornell majoring in human development and minoring in education, inequality studies and dance.

I'm originally from Ossining, NY which is near Westchester. My house is five minutes from Sing-Sing prison, and I went there on a trip in 2nd grade. I think they took us there to scare us into being good.

Why did you choose UELIP?

I had always been interested in education policy work, and when Chancellor Rhee came to speak at Cornell, things fell into place. I fell in love with education reform, and I wanted to be here because this is where the action is. Doing UELIP became 100% what I wanted to do this summer.

If aliens landed in front of you, and in exchange for anything you desire offered you any position on their planet, what would you want?

I would want to be superintendent of an alien school district, but it would have to be a school district where I could feel that I was helping and somehow making a difference.

Name one interesting fact about yourself.

I have never been on an airplane or been in an airport. I also have twin sisters, and I have been an avid ballet dancer since I was 9 years old.

If you could be any character from fiction which one would you be?

I would be Elizabeth from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I like her because she's really witty and courageous, and she has a ton of spunk.

What was the last book you read?

Middlemarch by George Elliot. It was one of the books on my AP English reading list, and I'm re-reading it.

If we took a look in your refrigerator what would we find?

Turkey Hill Dutch chocolate ice cream.

Wouldn’t that technically be in the freezer?

No, I forgot to put it in the freezer and left it in the refrigerator yesterday. It was all over the fridge! You would also find lots of seltzer and some broccoli.

Can you tell us what you are doing at UELIP?

I'm working with the resolution team in the Office of Special Education (OSE) helping to create a database for all of the education awards.

Education awards are hours of tutoring that we provide students. The database will help track "used hours" information that is currently stored in spreadsheets.

Anything else you want to share?

I'm friendly! Say hi to me :)

Senior Associate: Bo Han

Where do you come from?
I’m from the Philly area, but most recently, I was in Boston for graduate school. I’m enrolled in a joint Master in Public Policy and Master of Business Administration program at the Harvard Kennedy School and the MIT Sloan School of Management.


Why did you choose UELIP?
I chose UELIP because I believe in the potential for great change in our public education system. There is a lot of innovation in education reform occurring at DCPS, and I want to be here to observe first-hand and learn as much as I can from DCPS’s reform efforts.

If aliens landed in front of you and, in exchange for anything you desire, offered you any position on their planet, what would you want?
I don’t know if I would ask for a position, but I would have a couple of questions for them that I would want answered like “What’s the deal with Roswell?” and “How do you feel about the way aliens are portrayed in the media?”

Name one interesting fact about yourself.
I once helped an old lady cross the street.


If you could be any character from fiction which one would you be?
Probably Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird. I think he is the epitome of integrity and compassion. A less boring answer would be one of the Boxcar children. I had a fascination with the series as a child!

What was the last book you read?
The last book I read was the required UELIP reading, Dan Pink’s A Whole New Mind. It was really informative and provided a lot of insight on how the world is changing so rapidly around us. Right now I’m reading Sunstein and Thaler’s Nudge, which I highly recommend. If you enjoy Malcolm Gladwell, Nudge will be right up your alley.

If we took a look in your refrigerator what would we find?
A bunch of frozen dinners. I need to start taking better care of myself!

Can you tell us what you are doing at UELIP?
This summer I’m helping to revise the Teaching and Learning Framework that is the center of DCPS’s Effective Schools Framework. DCPS is rolling out a new rubric and the TLF will help support teachers in the classroom. Also, I’m working on an Innovation Team called More Meals for More Students that is helping to bring salad bars and healthy vending machines to DC schools.