Minting community leaders and stellar citizens: ASU’s Public Service Academy approaches 10-year milestone

Airports that are easier to navigate.

Health care that is simple to access.

Helping underrepresented youth reach college.

These are realities that alumni of Arizona State University’s Public Service Academy are helping to actualize.

What they all have in common is that they serve the public good. That was President Michael M. Crow’s vision for the academy when it launched in 2015.

Character-driven leadership development is the heart of the academy's mission and is embodied in its principal program, the Next Generation Service Corps, or NGSC. 

NGSC operates within ASU’s Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions with one simple goal: to create leaders who understand society’s complex challenges and recognize a need for collaboration between the public, private, nonprofit and military sectors to address those challenges.

Now entering its 10th year, the Public Service Academy is starting see its graduates become community leaders and effect real change.

“A decade later, the NGSC continues to impact students today because it instills the values of public service, provides an expansive network, and opens worldviews and approaches to understanding complex issues and the importance of cross-sector collaboration and leadership to solve global and local issues,” said Cindy Parnell, chief of public service for Watts College. “Our distinguished alumni are doing amazing work, and our rising students are being prepared to continue the impact and legacy our alumni are creating.”

Over the past decade, the Public Service Academy has educated 640 students with the mission to positively impact society by working across sectors. In honor of Salute to Service week, ASU News spoke to three graduates and three new students to understand why they got involved with the program, and how acquiring leadership skills has improved their lives as well as the communities in which they reside.

She knows it sounds a bit odd, but Taylor Sokolovic has always aspired to be a government employee.

And it’s not for the reasons you might think.

“I’m a third-generation public servant,” said Sokolovic, who graduated from the Public Service Academy in 2020. “My grandpa was an immigration officer, and my dad was in the Navy. I felt like government service was my calling because I’ve always wanted to get to know my community better.”

She is a planner for Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, which is owned and operated by the city of Phoenix. Sokolovic is involved in every aspect of the airport, from extending runways to environmental reports to terminal remodeling to serving as an intergovernmental stakeholder to the Rio Reimagined project.

So how does she serve the community at large?

“The best way to summarize Phoenix Sky Harbor is that it’s one of our largest moneymakers in Phoenix,” said Sokolovic, who noted the total annual economic impact of the Phoenix Airport System (which also includes Deer Valley and Goodyear airports) is around $44.3 billion. “As an airport employee, we’re not only responsible for managing a government asset but allowing for new business and creating a great experience for our customers all at the same time.”

Sokolovic is also the airport liaison for the city of Phoenix’s community service fund drive, which raises money for various nonprofits throughout the Valley. She was named the 2024 chairperson for the aviation department.

She said joining the Public Service Academy gave her leadership and active listening skills she uses at her current job.

“I have the ability to speak to others respectfully and professionally with good intentions, even if someone else has a different viewpoint than mine,” Sokolovic said. “Being able to manage different groups with different opinions has allowed me to run public meetings and interact with the community. This has really helped shape my career.”

When Basil Ribakare entered ASU, he aspired to become a lawyer for a large firm and make lots of money. His outlook began changing when he joined the Public Service Academy a few years ago.

A first-generation African American college student who graduated in 2024 with a psychology degree, Ribakare said he “began seeing things on a different scope” his first year in the program.

“I used to believe that leadership meant being the person in front, the CEO, the person making decisions, things like that,” said Ribakare, who is now pursuing a master’s degree in public administration with Watts College. “Now I’ve found my leadership style to be more of a servant leader and uplifting people as much as I can.”

He demonstrates this by lending his skills to a pair of Phoenix-based nonprofits. As founding partner of S.E.E.D. Philanthropy, a youth-led initiative for Black high school or college students who are interested in giving back to the community, Ribakare oversees marketing, outreach, fundraising, recruitment and volunteering for the organization. He is also a Marvin Andrews/Jane Morris fellow; the program “prepares the nation’s most talented graduate students pursuing their Master of Public Administration or Public Policy for executive management careers in city and county governments.”

“I’ve come to learn that knowing economics, budgeting and finance is what can heavily influence and dictate of lot of decision making in any business or nonprofit,” Ribakare said. “By being a bridge and making this more comprehensible, I believe it can lead to a lot more engagement.”

He said his true passion is helping Black youth get to college, which he does through S.E.E.D. Philanthropy.

“Young African Americans entering college are truly entering a whole new world,” Ribakare said. “It’s not that hard to give back to your community, and it just reinforces to me the fact that there are no limits. There are no barriers stopping any of us from giving back.”

As an out-of-state student from San Diego, Isabel Huerta joined the Public Service Academy to give her a sense of community and a sense of belonging. She also liked the fact that it was not a passive program.

“I truly value organizations that invest in you as a person and give you opportunities,” said Huerta, who graduated from ASU last May with a global health degree offered by The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “They also required us to have internships and push you to take that extra step. It motivated me to get stuff done.”

Huerta spent her undergrad experience on Mission Team 13, which thought about ways to improve access to health care.

“I learned through my work to think about what it means to have health care in this country, who has it, who doesn’t and what are the various barriers?” Huerta said. “I did not only develop these nuanced opinions but discovered that you have to take initiative in life and don’t wait around for someone else to take action. If you see a problem, go and solve it.”

After a 10-week fellowship with the University of Michigan funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Huerta is using that can-do attitude in her new job with Alzheimer’s San Diego, a nonprofit that offers support and education to enhance the quality of life of those affected by all dementias in San Diego County. Her next big goal is to attend medical school and work towards addressing systemic barriers to quality health care.

“I’m learning how to develop initiatives for the community and people suffering from dementia and their caregivers,” Huerta said. “The Public Service Academy taught me that I can handle a lot of responsibilities and positions, and I hope to carry that hardworking drive with me.”

Katie Richie, a second-year ASU student, already knows what she wants to do with her life. Her ideal career is to “work in the policy space” in public education.

“I want to help build a more equitable education system for students across Arizona, and I’m able to do that right now,” said Richie, who is majoring in public policy and economics in The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “I love education and being able to address inequities.”

She said she “fell in love” with the Public Service Academy because of its ability to bring students together from a variety of disciplines to tackle our greatest challenges.

“We’re all able to connect with one another and resonate with the experiences we’re all going through,” Richie said, who is a member of the Education Policy Mission Team. “Everyone has a volunteer spirit, and we want to give back in whatever capacity we can.”

Richie is doing just that. Her mission team has been addressing gaps and discrepancies for English language learners. They are planning a series of community projects and writing letters to elected officials. She has also been working to educate fellow college students on the 2024 election by registering people to vote.

“Regardless of whatever issue I’m addressing, students need resources how to use their voice whether it’s in the classroom or at a ballot box,” Richie said. “Students need a platform to exercise their rights, and that’s what drives me.”

She said the requirements for the Public Service Academy can be daunting at times, but the payoff has always been worth the effort.

“The Public Service really fosters the environment to help students figure out how they can give back to the community, even if it’s not necessarily the career path they’re going into,” Richie said. “It’s been challenging, but it has given me a strong understanding of what it means to be a cross-sector leader.”

Wanting a challenge after high school graduation, Efren Trejo Pantaleon was drawn to the Public Service Academy.

“After high school, I really wanted to get out of my comfort zone and join something that would help me develop both personally and professionally,” said Pantaleon, who will graduate this year with two undergraduate degrees in social work and justice studies, and a minor in global studies. “When I did my research on the Public Service Academy, I spotted something that solidified my decision to join — the opportunity to engage in social missions and community work.”

He gravitated to the Immigration and Refugee Mission Team.

“I was tasked with sharing my parents’ immigration story to the United States from Mexico,” Pantaleon said. “I did that through a cooking demonstration because I live in a neighborhood with a wide variety of different immigrant backgrounds. My mom showcased the dish throughout the demonstration and was able to hand out ingredients to interested audience members.”

He has also volunteered with The Welcome to America Project, a Tempe-based nonprofit that helps refugees integrate faster into their communities and offers a path to self-sufficiency. He also devoted time to New Roots Phoenix, a food security and agriculture program of the International Rescue Committee Phoenix, an international aid organization that helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster.

Pantaleon is looking for internships in the nonprofit sector in Washington, D.C., or fellowships that will help him in his quest to reach more people on a national scale.

“I want to advocate for underserved and immigrant communities by supporting them anyway I can,” he said.

But in his remaining days at ASU, he is utilizing the time to mentor younger Public Service Academy members.

“I’m teaching them not to be afraid to reach out and diversify their network whenever they can and connect with others,” Pantaleon said. “I am also trying to show them other opportunities they might be interested in the future. I’m here as a person of support.”

Chase Baugh likes connecting people to places and vice versa. He's a second-year double major — urban planning, and Spanish literature and culture — and cross-sector leadership is his thing.

“I like the Public Service Academy because I’m able to hone my skills and getting the why behind it as well,” said Baugh, who serves as an intern with the Maricopa Association of Governments, a regional agency that conducts planning and makes policy decisions in the greater Phoenix area. “I grew up in the Valley so it feels incredible to give back even while I’m still in school.”

Baugh is definitely in the thick of things. His work with the Maricopa Association of Governments has exposed him to a lot of different government and nonprofit organizations, consultants and fellow planners.

“We were once a city that only knew how to do bus lines and highways. Then came the freeways. A few decades later came light rail. Now we’re doing streetcars,” he said. “So, the question becomes how do we manage a multi-line system that’s done equitably and fairly and becomes a model for others to emulate? I want to be able to incorporate all of these different opinions and somehow bring all of them together. That’s where my cross-sector leadership will come into play.”

Baugh said the skills acquired in the Public Service Academy have served him well, both professionally and personally.

“I’m doing the kind of service that’s good for the soul.”