By Richard Smith
Independent Newsmedia

Surprise recently said farewell to its first administrative intern through the Marvin Andrews Fellowship at Arizona State University.

Peoria native Kristen Ayers just finished the second and final year of the fellowship, which requires a school-year-long internship with a city. Graduates of the program earn a Master’s degree in Public Administration.

Ms. Ayers split her time in Surprise between the city manager’s office and the finance department. She also took part in police and fire ride alongs, worked on a point in time homelessness count and spoke to local high school students.

“As luck would have it, I was placed with Nicole Lance and after meeting her a few times, I knew it would be an amazing opportunity to get to work under her. I absolutely fell in love with the people here and the culture. I am so lucky that they agreed to host me as their first Marvin Andrews fellow,” Ms. Ayres said during the May 2 council meeting.

Highlights of her time included work on transportation funding analysis, support in developing the fiscal year 2018 budget and analysis for finance department proposals.

During the internship, she was taking a class in finance and asked if she could work with the city’s finance department for a few months.

“Those are some of the hardest working people I’ve ever met in my life,” Ms. Ayres said.

Her favorite project during the internship was working with women leading government. She completed initial research of other state and regional organizations and served as a co-lead on the mentoring committee.

Then, Ms. Ayers helped create and present a webinar of Surprise’s efforts for a state organization.

“I got to talk to four other chapters and learn some best practices. Really, what I learned is that we’re at the forefront and are already doing more than many other states and cities,” Ms. Ayres said. “We have officially launched our mentoring program and have 21 matches and it is so amazing and humbling to get to see something I worked on for the last nine months come to fruition. “

In the first year of the fellowship, public affairs students intern with the Alliance for Innovation, a nonprofit dedicated to identifying innovative best practices in government. Tuition is covered and the program covers the cost of several conventions.

Assistant City Manager Nicole Lance and Executive Management Analyst Edith Baltierrez are former Marvin Fellows.

Ms. Ayers is the daughter of Peoria Deputy City Manager Julie Arendall. She recently was nominated for an Outstanding Achievement and Contribution Student Award, given annually by the ASU Commission on the Status of Women.

“You were highly visible and I interacted a little bit with you and the youth — a nice role model for our kids. Congratulations on the Women Leading government effort. That’s outstanding and I hope kids at home are watching this and absorbing it,” Surprise Councilman John Williams said during the meeting.