05年的莫莉·布里奇可能离格里利很远，但她带着她在博天堂官方的经历 并确保其他人也能获得博天堂官方的教育机会 in ways that will help future generations dream big.
Burich出生在威斯康辛州(这使她成为Green Bay Packer的球迷) 生活). “我父亲的工作让我们经历了一段旅程，”她说. The family moved 从威斯康辛州到芝加哥，再到印第安纳州，最后在加州度过了她的高中时光 Colorado Springs.
到了选择上哪所大学的时候，她去了 UNC and Colorado State University. And even though she was a pro at moving, this time 搬到一所新学校是她在没有家人帮助的情况下要做的事 过渡. CSU was overwhelming, 她说. “I remember leaving there feeling petrified. 几周后我去了博天堂官方，我感到了一种真正的归属感 去校园. It felt manageable, big enough, but not overwhelming. 从一开始 那一刻我想，‘好吧，我可以做到，我可以离开家生活.” was it,” she remembers.
她最初把博天堂官方列入她要探索的学校名单，因为她 thought she wanted to be a teacher. Then, in the residence hall one night during UNC 迎新时，她拿起课程目录，开始翻阅. 她来了 在政治科学的课程列表中，在那一刻，她改变了主意 – and the course of her career. The next day she listed her major as Political Science.
Her advisor was Brook Blair, Ph.D., professor in Political Science and 国际 Affairs. “He, too, is a Green Bay Packer fan. So, we did bond over football,” 她说. 他是她政治学导论课的教授，而她 甚至在她的第一学期就知道她已经找到了她的学术和专业 路径. From that first day 她说 she never looked back.
第二学期，她开始认识更多的人，结交了更多的朋友 she remains close to. Her sophomore year she became a campus tour guide. “我总是 试图说服人们选择政治学专业，”她说.
“It all just clicked. It was just such a magnificent college experience,” 她说.
从博天堂官方毕业后，她获得了公共政策硕士学位 2007年在芝加哥德保罗大学(DePaul University)毕业，随后在一家健康机构就职 政策 consulting firm in Washington, D.C. There, she discovered she loved health 政策. 她的客户是制药公司，一如既往 她的事业，她发现自己工作在关键变化和当前的中心 events as they intersected with health care.
“This was during the Obamacare debate. I was reading every piece of legislation, every version that came out and summarizing it for my clients. So, it was a really exciting time to be new to health 政策, to be living in D.C., to be working a million hours a week and making no money,” 她说 with a laugh. “But that's what you did to build 的简历. And so, I did that.”
随着时间的推移，她经历了职业生涯，换过公司，也积累了技能. 她开始从事联邦政策方面的工作，并抓住机会与她的雇主在 当时，大冢美国制药公司(Otsuka America Pharmaceuticals)搬到了加州，成为一名州说客 across seven western states. She moved to a different company for a time, and is now 回到大冢，领导着位于新泽西州普林斯顿的卫生政策团队.
Once again, her work has intersected with current events. During the COVID-19 pandemic 她发现自己会围着厨房的桌子与家人和朋友交谈. “我记得在科罗拉多州的圣诞节，我和家人坐在厨房的餐桌旁， talking about the clinical trials for the COVID vaccines. And I was like, ‘You guys, 这些产品的临床试验规模很大提供了一些 important data,’” 她说. “On the one hand, I think (with COVID-19) there is now 更多的理解和欣赏临床试验以及它带来的东西 products to market, which is great. On the other, I think we still have more work 要解释这一切不是一夜之间发生的，也不是没有牺牲就发生的.”
当她谈到她的职业生涯和她在过去12年中遇到的挑战时 多年来，我们不难看出她某天晚上在宿舍里做的决定 at UNC has given her a 路径 to work she loves.
“我认为我的事业已经超出了我的想象，但我的爱情 政策是在博天堂官方政治科学系诞生和培养的，” 她说. “我把它归功于有才华的教授，他们在课堂上进行了很多精彩的辩论 class and presented a lot of different sides. I absolutely credit the UNC Political 感谢你帮助我找到并培养了我的激情.”
她希望其他人在大学期间也能有这样的经历 年.
“我在这里，我是一个去了北卡大学的女孩，有一段很棒的经历，现在我经常 与国会议员接触，与他们讨论医疗保健问题，包括 那些生活在精神健康挑战中的人的需求，”她说. “I have this fabulous 有时——尤其是现在一切都是虚拟的(由于COVID) ——当我穿着拖鞋和打底裤坐在家里的家庭办公室里和 国会议员们在和Zoom通话时，我就说，这是谁的生活?’
“我只想说，要有远大的梦想，从大学经历中收获和你一样多的东西 can, because it's such a foundational piece. I look back on it so fondly, and that 是因为我在一所好大学的一个好系工作. I don't ever doubt that's why that was so.”
正是因为她在博天堂官方的经历及其对她职业生涯的影响 布里奇决定建立莫利·布里奇政治科学奖学金基金， 授予政治学专业大三或大四学生，优先考虑 female students.
“我一直都知道，我希望能够回馈北卡大学，并开始相对 early, as soon as I could,” Burich says. “I'm so thankful that I was able to understand 怎样做才能让我们建立起这个奖项呢 time. 当我意识到可以考虑设立奖学金时，然后 I was laser focused on wanting to do that. For me, it's a way to give back and give 回到那个塑造了我的人生和职业轨迹的美妙的部门.”
她说，她很兴奋，几年后，她将能够与学生联系 benefiting from her scholarship endowment. “As an alum who lives across the country 不能积极参加当地活动或参观校园，这是我可以做到的一种方式 与大学的终身联系，同时帮助奖励和培养 more strong women in the political science field.”
