Amanda Edwards
Education Coordinator
My name is Amanda Edwards, and I am going into my fourth year at the University of Utah. My
major is Quantitative Analysis of Markets and Organizations (QAMO) and I am pursuing a minor in
both Sociology and Music, as well as an Honors degree. I am passionate about social change and am
planning to pursue a career in Public Policy. As I have transitioned from a Violin Performance Major
to my current set of degrees, I have learned a lot through my diverse classes and opportunities that
have made me confident in my decision to pursue this career.
One thing that makes me unique is my diversity of experience. With the degrees I am pursuing, I
have experience in the arts, human behavior, social science, business, and analytics. With these
experiences, I have a variety of perspectives that help me to have a more holistic problem solving
approach. These perspectives also make me extremely adaptable to various workplaces, goals, and
people. Besides my educational experiences, I have been lucky enough to have had valuable
international experience. The most notable of these experiences is the month that I lived in Nepal this
past summer. I traveled to Nepal, by myself, and lived with a Nepalese woman. My purpose in going
there was to work with a program called Eternal Hope Nepal. This program focuses on helping
children in the lowest castes gain an education and make lives for themselves. I worked all day with
the children, teaching lessons and learning to make meaningful connections through a very
significant language barrier. While engaging with these children and families who had an income of
three to five dollars a week, I became passionate about doing everything that I can to find ways to
help those that are born into difficult circumstances. I believe that the best way for me to help is to
become involved in the political system, and use my skills to help put systems in place that work.
I approach everything I do with my very best effort. While I was preparing to be a professional
musician through high school and the beginning portion of college, I learned valuable lessons about
what it takes to make a difference. I learned how to nit pick and problem solve, and to put my heart
and soul into something. Most importantly I learned to do my best, and to learn from the moments
when I fell short. I believe that I can be an asset to Ndes Foundation.