Fellowship Spotlight: Daniel Schultz

Daniel Schultz is a second-year political science major with minors in cognitive science and statistics. Daniel is currently serving as a Senior Staffer with the Fellowship and previously served as a Legislative Fellow during the 2020-2021 school year. Through the Fellowship, he hopes to gain a holistic understanding of policy development while working alongside legislators on impactful legislation that addresses structural issues hurting Georgians. Daniel also aims to become an expert on certain sectors of policy, such as environmental policy and transgender rights. He first got interested in politics in high school while volunteering at several different elementary schools and witnessing the disparities in resources offered between upper-class, predominately white schools and schools with mostly minority students. This motivated him to explore how systemic oppression operates and work towards tackling inequality in Georgia through being politically involved. Before joining the Fellowship, he worked with Commissioner Ted Terry, State House Representative Brenda Lopez Romero and Dunwoody Mayor Lynn Deutsch. Through his various policy experiences, Daniel has learned the importance of listening to varying opinions as doing such always makes the policy more fine-tuned. The dysfunctional polarization that leads people not to listen to each other, Daniel has found, is the greatest threat to our democracy and prevents policies from supporting our communities. In addition to the Fellowship, Daniel also conducts CURO research with Dr. Richard Blissett on the development of beliefs about transgender rights. He also is a member of the undergraduate Moot Court debate team and the Backpack Project. Daniel is really excited by the prospect of a growing blue Georgia and has been particularly motivated by the various work that Democrats in the state are doing in the realms of policy, elections and community engagement. After graduating undergrad, Daniel plans to hike the Appalachian Trail before attending law school. In law school, he aims to focus on environmental or civil rights law. He is also interested in attaining a Ph.D. in environmental policy and development in hopes of becoming a professor and researcher in the field.