“Hurricane Maria was a historic, once-in-a-century storm that decimated my home island of Puerto Rico. At the time, I was working as a communications professional in Washington on issues that had nothing to do with PR. The deep sense of not knowing what might happen, and seeing the place where I grew up in turmoil, shifted my priorities. It eventually led me to join the federal affairs team of the Center for a New Economy (CNE), a Puerto Rican think-tank. At CNE, I worked to communicate research insights to media and advocacy audiences in D.C., with the goal of informing policymakers and shifting public opinion on policy issues like the island’s debt crisis and disaster recovery. Growing up there filters everything I do and brought me to this moment. Coming from a place where there are evident economic/social policy failures, I feel a strong sense of moral responsibility to help find solutions. This moved me toward domestic policy at @princetonspia. Here, I’ve learned that many of the crises plaguing Puerto Rico are playing out in other parts of the country with even greater intensity. Along the way, I’ve also pursued my passion for writing and editing — most recently as a deputy editor in chief for the Journal of Public and International Affairs, a student-run @princetonSPIA journal. At an early age, I found I was good at writing in both English and Spanish due to growing up in a place where those languages overlap. Plus, as an only child, writing was a good hobby. I’ve always enjoyed the act of putting pen to paper as a way of making sense of the world around me, and my place in it. At @princeton, I’m working to go beyond writing and build the skills to develop forward-looking social policies that Puerto Rico, and places it like it, sorely need. I’m in good company at SPIA. I realize the tremendous luck I have being connected to peers who go out of their way to learn and engage with one another. This year has been hard on everyone, but we’ve built something in a precarious space that’s sure to last.” — Francis Torres MPA ’21 (@fgtorres045).