Issue link: http://psai.uberflip.com/i/1280285
ASSOCIATIONINSIGHT Portable Sanitation Association International News BIWEEKLY EDITION AUGUST 19, 2020 Page 5 Continued on page 6 Congratulations Scott! Scott Watson, our final PSAI 2020 scholarship winner, hails from Saugus, California and graduated from Saugus High School in May of 2018. Since then, he has been attending the University of California- San Diego and working toward a bachelor's degree in political science public policy. After graduation in 2021, he plans to apply to law school and remain active in politics. Currently, Scott is on track to graduate a year early from college, even though he has been quite busy. On the academic front, he has consistently been awarded provost honors and holds a grade point average of 3.81. Outside of school, he has held two unpaid internships with congressional campaigns and earned money as a campaign worker for In Field Strategies. In November 2019, when a school shooting happened at his former high school (where his sister and other family members attend), Scott rushed home to help out. The appraiser who vouched for Scott on his grant application asserted that Scott is a "great worker, with a very positive attitude, who is eager to learn." We expect Scott is on his way to making a significant difference. Below is his essay. Winning Hearts and Minds: The Portable Sanitation Industry's Opportunity to Persuade the General Public Although my major is political science, I am also something of an avid historian as well, especially of 20th-century events. One trend that has clearly emerged over the past century is that if you want to convince the masses of your cause, you cannot coerce them. To build a coalition that favors one's interest, one must first win the hearts and minds of the people. Even in American foreign policy, we've seen a failure to achieve this with state-building attempts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia since the end of the Cold War. Although the portable sanitation industry doesn't have to weigh such dramatic and important actions as the US State Department, it is still in their vital interest to convince the public that portable sanitation is a viable and respected alternative to more traditional modes of sanitation. Having previously worked in the portable sanitation industry (my summer job was washing porta-potties at Andy Gump while my father, Tony, was general manager), I am fully aware of the inherent benefits of proliferating the use of portable sanitation. However, the challenge for individual companies and PSAI as a whole is to convince the public of this fact. Over the course of my two years in university so far, I believe I have identified a reliable and feasible approach for PSAI and the industry at large to create an environment favorable to their interests. The two main tenets of this plan to win over the hearts and minds of the public are engaging in a strategy of grassroots mellowing and focusing on the portable sanitation industry's intrinsic environmental benefits.