SRU students recognized for Up to Us case competition

July 25, 2023

Three student groups from a Slippery Rock University Policy Analysis and Evaluation course placed in the top five among national submissions for the Up to Us Civic Solutions Case Competition. Up to Us is a nonpartisan initiative that provides young civic leaders with resources to learn about and advocate for a more sustainable fiscal future. In its inaugural year, the case competition challenged teams of students nationwide to consider prompts addressing the rising national debt in the context of climate change, higher education affordability or health care costs.

The Policy Analysis and Evaluation course was taught by Cheryl Kerchis, assistant professor of political science. Each student group that was recognized received a $1,000 cash prize and one member received an all-expenses paid trip to the Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement Conference last month in Boston to present their group’s policy proposal to a conference panel. SRU students who represented their groups and attended the CLDE conference with Kerchis were:

• Sarah Luiken, a junior political science major from Wexford, who presented her group’s proposal on health care policy.
• Allison Crevier, a 2023 SRU graduate with a degree in criminology and criminal justice, who presented her group’s proposal on higher education policy.
• Emma Phillips, a 2023 SRU graduate with a degree in environmental geoscience, who presented her group’s proposal on climate policy.