Malaina Jenkins is a senior, double majoring in Economics and Political Science. She first became interested in Economics in high school, where she enjoyed exploring research questions outside of class. When she arrived at Wooster, she found that her college experience deepened her appreciation for the field in new ways. She values how Economics emphasizes critical thinking and modeling, allowing her to analyze complex issues from multiple angles. Malaina also appreciates how the skills she’s developed in Economics complement her studies in Political Science, giving her a stronger analytical foundation that connects both disciplines.
One of Malaina’s favorite projects in the Economics Department came from her Agency Economics course, where she studied a topic within behavioral economics. The class required students to take an idea from theory and test how it worked in real life. Through the project, she examined how economic concepts align with human behavior and how people respond to certain incentives. It helped her see connections between what she learned in class and real-world situations, such as how advertising influences decision-making. Malaina described the experience as eye-opening because it showed her how experimental economics can help us understand everyday behaviors.
As a transfer student who took introductory courses at another university, Malaina noticed a clear difference at Wooster. Instead of being shown a finished graph or equation and asked to memorize it, Wooster professors expected her to build the model herself: to justify each part and explain why it works. That shift from memorization to construction changes the depth of learning: “Because you have to prove your reasoning, you understand it more deeply.” This approach now shapes everything from class assignments to her Senior I.S. theory section. The emphasis on modeling, argumentation, and evidence has taught her how to defend a claim step by step. Overall, she feels that Wooster challenges students to move beyond memorization and develop a deeper, more analytical way of thinking about economics.
When asked about meaningful experiences outside of regular coursework, Malaina recalled a class trip from her Migration and Mobilities economics course. During her sophomore year, the class visited Oberlin College to attend a Symposium focused on migration issues. The event brought together people and organizations working directly with migrants. It allowed students to connect what they had studied in the classroom to real people who were fighting for change. For Malaina, hearing different perspectives firsthand made a lasting impression. It gave her a deeper understanding of the economic and human dimensions of migration that can’t always be captured through models and classes alone. “I appreciated learning about programs that support migrants and seeing how research and policy intersect in practice”. The symposium is just one example of Wooster’s economics department’s commitment to experiential learning and connecting economics to current and real-world challenges.
Malaina encourages future Economics students not to worry about having their career path fully figured out from the beginning. Coming from a family of teachers and nurses, she’s often asked what someone can do with an Economics degree, and her answer is simple: there are many possibilities. What matters most, she explains, are the skills the major helps you build, especially critical analysis and problem-solving. These tools are valuable in any field and remain useful even as interests or goals evolve. To her, Economics prepares students to succeed in a wide range of roles because it teaches them how to think, not just what to think.