My name is Payton Fleming, and I graduated from Cornell University this past May after majoring in Sociology with a double minor in Public Policy and Inequality Studies. I made the decision to leave my long-standing dreams of becoming a veterinarian behind during my junior year, and I have been passionately chasing a new goal. The combination of my background in agriculture and my newfound drive to impact change in the same area sparked something in me that veterinary medicine never had. I knew that I needed to be someone that would fight for the creation and implementation of policies that support underserved and underrepresented communities. My first experience fulfilling this desire came from volunteering with The Farmlink Project in varying positions over the course of 2 years. I found my niche in the Public Policy as a researcher, and I assisted my team in calling attention to the Farm Bill through our informational panels and attending conferences in Washington D.C. as a representative of the organization. I plan on applying the policy skills I learned as a member of the Farmlink Project's Public Policy sub-group, and also the community outreach skills I learned as a member of the Community Team, to help other agriculturally focused non-profit organizations impact change in many ways. I hope to be able to do so by working in the non-profit sector after graduation to gain a more professional sense of familiarity, but I would like to expand my horizons by attending law school in a year or two. Aside from my interests in ag-policy, I am incredibly passionate about animals and sports! Funnily enough, I found a way to combine the two, and I competed on Cornell’s Western Equestrian team for the last 3 years of my collegiate career!