For David Medina (AB,'91), public service is everything.
"Imagine devoting your life to helping others," he said during his keynote address to UChicago students at the College's 13th annual Taking the Next Step, held at the Marriott Chicago in January.
More than 1,100 students and dozens of alumni attended the daylong event, designed to introduce second- and third-years to the wide variety of career paths that a degree from the College can make possible.
Medina's career has included positions working with former U.S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun, First Lady Michelle Obama and his current role as Director of Public Engagement for the Peace Corps. Medina, who recently began his Peace Corps position, manages several of its national initiatives that promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans. He also is responsible for building and maintaining strategic partnerships between the Peace Corps and non-profit organizations in the United States.
Medina credits the University for launching him into a life of service.
"Attending a world-class university with such a strong commitment to academic excellence and volunteerism helped define my career path in public service," said Medina.
While attending UChicago and majoring in Political Science, Medina served as Student Government President and was a member of the service-oriented fraternity Phi Delta Theta. He also kept close ties with South Chicago, where he grew up. At his church, he organized afterschool programs for low-income students, and at 22, he helped register voters on the city's South Side.
Medina's experience with struggling Chicago families and his own family's financial problems were no match for the extremes of poverty that he saw while traveling with his mother to visit relatives in Mexico.
"I was absolutely sure I wanted to devote my life to the poor," Medina said.
A guidance counselor in high school encouraged Medina to apply to UChicago, an opportunity he was able to pursue with the help of merit scholarships and financial aid from the College.
"I would not have been able to attend Chicago if I hadn't received a very generous loan, grant and work-study package," he said.
Medina, who went on to earn a Master's in Public Policy from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, is a self-described "staunch liberal Democrat." He helped organize a march in Washington for gay and lesbian rights, and said the late U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy is one of his heroes, pointing to Kennedy's long record of helping others through politics and public service.
"I was put on this earth to live out loud," Medina said, paraphrasing the famous words of French author 'Emile Zola.
-Sara Olkon
—Prof. Chuan He
