By Jonathan Bowman
I was recently afforded the opportunity to attend the MME Summer Workshop in Alpena, Mich. because of an MME scholarship. I am currently an MPA student at Grand Valley State University and an intern with the Village of Sparta. I heard of the conference from Sparta Village Manager Julius Suchy and thought it would be a great opportunity for me to learn firsthand about the field of public administration from active city and village managers. Overall, I had a fantastic experience at my first MME conference. I was able to meet a lot of people, build connections, and learn a ton during the different sessions.
There were three sessions that stood out to me during the conference and they were Managing Small Communities Roundtable, Small Town Thinks Big: Planning Leads to Action, and the All the Queen’s Horses film. The first session I mentioned was a roundtable discussion. It was very beneficial and eye-opening to listen to people discuss problems that were facing their communities and seeing other leaders provide advice on how they have handled similar issues. This session showed the strong sense of community that city and village managers have in helping each other. The second session was about master planning. It was interesting to learn from a planning specialist and hear about the process to create a master plan. I also enjoyed seeing the goals and land use plans for my hometown of Brighton, Mich. Finally, the general session showing the film All the Queen’s Horses made me realize that setting controls and protective measures in place are important regardless of the size of your community. Theft can happen at any level and it is necessary to have safeguards in place to prevent it from occurring. As a whole, these sessions provided me with new insights on city management and are topics that I will keep in the forefront of my mind as I begin my career in public administration.
The sessions and topics discussed at the conference complimented the ideas I have learned throughout my master’s program at Grand Valley. I have had many classes that talk about master planning, budgeting, citizen engagement, and working with elected officials but hearing about these things firsthand is more beneficial. The conference helped me make connections from what I have learned in textbooks from theory and case studies to things happening right here in Michigan. I believe the conference emphasized the amount of hard work that public administrators do for their communities and the impact the field has on communities.
There are so many people that I met at this conference that I hope I will be able to see again at future events and conferences I may attend. This experience has cemented my interest in the management profession, and I look forward to job searching next April after I graduate from my master’s program. In the fall, I will be starting a new internship with the City of Novi, where I will continue learning about the field of public administration. Thank you MME for providing me with this opportunity to explore the profession and I hope to be able to attend other conferences in the future as I begin my career.
Best Wishes,
Jonathan Bowman