Alumni Stories

April 26, 2013: Karyssa Zavala wrote on our Facebook wall to let us know about her amazing accomplishment of being named one of the top candidates for the Your Big Year - Win a Life Changing Prize. We were so thrilled to hear of her accomplishment that we reached out to Karyssa and asked her a few questions to learn more about this opportunity and to see what she has been up to since her internship with HACU.

1. When and where were you an intern?

During the summer of 2012, I was selected by the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities National Internship Program to serve as a visual information specialist for the U.S Department of Agriculture. I worked with the Food Safety & Inspection Service (FSIS) to develop visual modes for communicating technical information. My beef slaughter compliance guidelines were published on the agency's website and distributed among 657 beef slaughter establishments.

2. How has your internship shaped your current aspirations?

I am passionate about using my communication skills to advocate for agriculture. Therefore, my internship with the US Department of Agriculture developed my knowledge of agricultural practices. My experience with the FSIS enabled my to participate in the 2012 Thought for Food Challenge.

Thought For Food is a global competition that calls on students from universities around the world to form teams and produce a robust project proposal - consisting of a business plan and creative pitch - that presents an unexpected and out-of-the-box solution to the global challenge of feeding 9 billion people by 2050. I participated in the 2012 Thought For Food Challenge with three other Texas A&M students and our project was selected as a finalist in the competition. We created a webseries reality show on YouTube to show the dedication and passion of students in the College of Agriculture & Sciences who care about farming and food security. As a result, I was sponsored by Syngenta to attend the 2012 One Young Summit in Pittsburgh, PA.

Thought For Food: www.tffchallenge.com/mentors/ (I currently serve as a Thought For Food Ambassador at Texas A&M University)

One Young World Video: www.vimeo.com/54535778 (A video about my experience at the 2012 One Young World Summit

One Young World website: www.oneyoungworld.com

3. What is Your Big Year - Win a Life Changing Prize?

Your Big Year is a global competition seeking aspiring social entrepreneurs ages 18-30 to win a life-changing prize of a year-long Ambassadorship, which will them visit six continents to volunteer on social impact projects, meet leaders worldwide, and learn about different cultures and international issues. Your Big year 3, a World Merit initiative, launched as a feature of Global Entrepreneuriship Congress in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with long-time partner the Smaller Earth Group.

Now in its third year, YBY is a global search for talent, which provides a unique forum for connecting amitious and determinded people to share their knowledges and ideas. In just two years the initiative has attracted over 100,000 of the worlds' most inspiring millenials from over 220 countries with a social media reach of over 20 million and has appeared in the press in over 25 countries. All participants who want to compete for a chance to win the prize will be sent a series of challenges before 120 finalists will be selected. The finalists will face a round of further tasks before 12 champions are selected and flown to Liverpool, UK to participate in a series of tasks as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week. A final winner will be selected who will them leave for the international journey. The journey will include planting trees to revitalize urban areas in South Africa, caring for lions in Northern Africa, preserving wildlife on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, working to build a medical program in India and leading special needs kids at a summer camp in the US.

World Merit website: www.worldmerit.org

Your Big Year: www.vimeo.com/58724470 (Promotional video for Your Big Year 2013)

Please go to http://goo.gl/jMXjx and sign up using the referal ID 3058. This if my special code and I get 10+ points everytime someone is referred by me. The your Big Year competition is based off points each participant earns and I could really use the help!

4. How did you hear about it?

I heard about Your Big Year through my friend Maria Fernanda Gandara Gil, One Young World Ambassador from Mexico. We met at the 2012 One Young World Summit in Pittsburgh, PA and have kept in touch since October. Our friend Sujit Lalwani, One Young World Ambassador from India, made it to the top 16 finalists in 2012 Your Big Year competition. I am inspired by my friends at One Young World and believe I can succeed in the competition with their encouragement. Joing the Your Big Year network was like returning to the One Young World Summit and meeting so many inspiring individuals from all over the world. I encourage any interested individuals who want to make a positive impact on societ to participate in One Young World and Your Big Year! It will change your life! 

5. How will the opportunity bring you closer to your long-term goals?

My ultimate career goal is to become a US Foreign Service Officers and improve agricultural practices and education systems abroad. I believe my participation in the 2013 Your Big Year competition will connect me with ambitious and determined young people to share knowledge and ideas with. Moreover, I will develop my knowledge of different cultures and international issues on the World Merit platform. I believe this experience will inspire me to do even better in life and make a positive impact on others.

6. How can the HACU Alumni Association network help you obtain your goals?

I believe the HACU Alumni Association (HAA) network has already helped my obtain my goals by provided a wonderful mentor program. My HACU mentor, Judith Almodovar, inspired me to continue my studies and encouraged my participation in Thought For Food and One Young World. I appreciate the opportunity I was given to intern for the US Department of Agriculture and believe my experience significantly influenced my long-term career goals. I commend HACU for their tireless efforts in promoting success in higher education for all Hispanics. My only hope is that one day I can give back to HACU as much as you have given to me! :)

July 24, 2012: Leysha López currently serves as Program Assistant of the HACU National Internship Program. She joined the HNIP team after completing two internships at the Library of Congress, Office of Special Events. During her internships she developed the components of the current Special Events Intranet page, prepared official lists to Congress, and assisted with the coordination of numerous events held at the Library. Read more...

July 16, 2012: Susie Saavedra has a decade of Capitol Hill experience working for four Members of Congress: former House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt, former Senator and current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair, Rep. Joe Baca, and Congressional Black Caucus Member, Rep. Al Green. Read more...
 
June 25, 2012: Andrea Ambriz currently serves as a Special Assistant in the Office of Legislative Affairs at the U.S Department of the Treasury, a position to which she was appointed by the Administration of the United States President Barak Obama in August 2011. She advances the Administration's agenda to strengthen U.S leadership in the global economy by working with key Congressional contacts, as well as with internation financial institutions, federal agencies, and foreign governments on a wide range of economic issues. Read more... 

May 21, 2012: Emily Calderon Galdeano is the Director of Research and Information for the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU). Her research agenda and publications focus on where the trajectories of public policy and higher education intersect, specifically as they relate to Latina/o students. She has served as a university faculty member, a legislative aide in the Texas Senate and House, and as a Bureau of International Labor Affairs intern with the U.S Department of Labor through the HACU National Internship Program. Read more...

May 14, 2012: Kimberly Castillo always knew she wanted to be in the public service arena. To her, public service means giving back, developing our communities, embracing our differences, and pursuing equiality. Her Federal career began as a HACU (Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universitys) intern in 2006 with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Office of Human Resources (HR) Management. She was the Assistant Program Manager for the Minority Serving Institution Internship Program for the agency. Read more...  

April 23, 2012: Eduardo J Martinez is a senior economist for Moody's Analytics in West Chester, PA. He prepares regular exonomic forecasts for the California and Puerto Rico economies, as well as conducts research on international trade and commercial real estate, and makes public and industry presentations across the United States. Eduardo's previous professional experiences includes economist positions with the Los Angeles Country Economic Development Corporation, State Department, and Bureau of Labor Statistics. Read more...

April 16, 2012: Josué M. Barrera is currently serving as the Summit Outreach Coordinator for the Department of State’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs Office of Economic Policy and Summit Coordination.  His office is charged with coordinating U.S participation in the 6th Summit of the Americas being held next April in Cartagena, Colombia.

Josué’s permanent position is as an HR Specialist in the Bureau of Human Resources Office of Recruitment, Examination, and Employment. His goal is to generate a pipeline of diverse candidates to carry out the Foreign Policy objectives of the U.S. in domestic and in diplomatic positions through the development of institutional relationships between the Department and professional affinity organizations. Read more...

April 9, 2012: Yahaira Rodriguez-Rosado is a mental health specialist and writer with vast experience providing support to government and non-government organizations. Yahaira obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Puerto Rico and received Summa Cum Laude distinction from the School Psychology Graduate Program of the Inter American University of Puerto Rico. Her education and professional experience includes United States, South Africa, Cuba, Spain, and the Caribbean. She has a strong commitment with education and educational opportunities, cultural competence, and philanthropy. Read more...







April 2, 2012: Elisa Montoya is the White House Liaison and Senior Advisor to the Director at the Peace Corps. Within this capacity, she is a member of the senior management team and manages all aspects of communication between the agency and executive branch. In addition, at the request of the director, she manages the implementation and oversight of projects across the agency and advises the director on issues that affect agency operations which include but are not limited to program development and growth, global operations, volunteer support, crises management, volunteer recruitment, safety and security, congressional relations, communication messaging and other agency administrative matters. Read more...

March 27, 2012: Maria Goldberg - Monday night at the HACU Capitol Forum Alumni Association Reception Fabiana Perera, HACU Alumni Association (HAA) Chair, presented Mrs. Maria Goldberg with the Honorary Alum distinction. Mrs. Goldberg is only the second person to be made an honorary alumnus; Mr. William Gil, Vice President of Programs at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, was the first to be presented with the award last year.

Maria Goldberg is currently the Executive Director of the Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) National Program at the United States Department of Agriculture. She leads a national team dedicated to addressing the needs of Hispanic-Serving Institutions and the communities they serve through promotion of professional and educational opportunities to students, faculty and staff affiliated with these institutions across the nation. Read more...


March 12, 2012: Roberto Gonzalez Jr. is the USDA-HSI Regional Director for Southern California and Arizona hosted at SDSU-Imperial Valley Campus, the branch campus of San Diego State University which both are HACU member institutions. Roberto works in cooperation with the Office of Campus Dean on carrying out regional initiatives, projects, and activities for HSIs located in the southernmost part of California and throughout the state of Arizona. Roberto supports the USDA's strategic alignment on the planning, development and coordination of advocacy and outreach programs and activities and initiatives related to Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). Read more...


March 5, 2012: Veronica Villalobos was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in October 2012. She currently holds the position of Director, Office of Diversity and Inclusion, with the U.S Office of Personnel Management (OPM). In that capacity, she manages OPM's government-wide diversity and inclusive Federal workforce. Veronica was a HACU intern in 1995 with the Department of Labor's (DOL) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management (OASAM). Read more... 



 

February 26, 2012: Cyrus Salazar is a graduate of New Mexico State University where he earned a Bachelors degree in Communication Studies and a Masters degree in Public Administration. Through his academic tenure, Mr. Salazar participated in five internships in Washington, D.C. through the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) National Internship Program at the Federal Aviation Administration, United States Department of Agriculture, and the National Institutes of Health. Read more...



 
February 20, 2012: Raquel Vazquez, HACU alumna of 2010, is an accomplished and proud Afro-Latina to honor during this special month. This Latina, of Puerto Rican, African American, and Barbadian descent, hailing from New York City, is a stellar hard-working professional building her career in public service and government administration. During her two HACU internships in Washington, D.C., Raquel worked at the USDA Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Through her outreach efforts at the USDA, she worked tirelessly to connect Latino-serving organizations and communities to anti-hunger programs, including WIC and Food Stamps. One of her most notable accomplishments was connecting the USDA to the Bronx Food Summit, an event aimed at combating obesity and hunger in the county where it is concentrated the most in the nation. Read more...

February 13, 2012: Didetsa Vazquez graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Puerto Rico in Arecibo (UPRA) with a Bachelors degree in Accounting. During her undergraduate years, she served as Secretary of the Accounting Students Association, President of the UPRA College Band in 2007, and worked as an accounting, finance and math tutor for freshmen and sophomores. During spring 2008, she participated in the Walt Disney World Theme Parks & Resorts College Program in Orlando, FL. In spring and summer 2009, she worked as a HACU intern at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Division of Payment Management which manages US federal grants payments throughout the world. Mainly, she was able to manage payment accounts that channeled FEMA funds to support the hurricane Katrina recovery efforts. Read more...

January 30, 2012: Albert Cruz is a 2005 Alum of the HACU National Internship Program where he interned in the Dept. of Commerce with the Steel Licensing Team. In 2007 he began his career on Wall Street in Investment Banking with UBS where he was able to survive the recession and eventually became an Associate Director in the US/LatAm Equity Capital Markets Group in New York. During his 4 years at UBS, he was the sole tax and structuring analyst in the Strategic Solutions Group and an equity origination analyst focusing on financial institutions, healthcare, technology, media and telecommunications sectors. Albert’s transaction experience includes Visa’s 19.7 billion IPO. During his time at UBS, Albert also co-founded and co-captained the Success Skills Volunteer Program for three years where employees mentored Brooklyn high school students. Read more... 


January 23, 2012: Michael Coronado graduated from the University of California, Riverside with a BS in Biochemistry in 2007 where he conducted undergraduate research in the field of aquatic ecotoxicology.  He interned with the National Institutes of Health through HNIP. 

Michael wanted to apply his knowledge and skills in the realm of human biomedical research so he underwent a PhD at The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences. Michael is currently studying the role of sex differences in inflammatory heart disease. Michael is using a model of coxsackievirus B3-induced myocarditis and dilated cardiomyopathy to study sex differences in heart disease and has uncovered that males have important differences in their immune response compared to females that confer susceptibility. Read more...


January 16, 2012: Kimberly Sais has worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) since 1993. Headquartered in Washington, USAID provides economic, development and humanitarian assistance around the world in support of the foreign policy goals of the United States. Ms. Sais currently serves as the Director of the Office of Professional Development and Management in the Agency’s Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade (EGAT). The Bureau is charged with providing technical leadership and field support to USAID missions around the world. The Bureau promotes raising incomes, ending hunger, protecting the environment, and equipping institutions and people with the knowledge and skills to build equitable and sustainable economies and societies while advancing gender equity across all U.S. Government foreign assistance objectives. 

As the Director of the Office of Professional Development and Management, Ms. Sais has broad management and oversight responsibilities related to professional staff development, personnel, administration, and management functions of the bureau.

Previously, Ms. Sais served as the Senior Policy Advisor in the bureau. She provided leadership within the Bureau to coordinate USAID implementation of Presidential and Congressional priorities and the coordination of international public-private partnerships. 

She has also worked in the Agency’s Office of the Chief Operating Officer, Office of Environment and Science Policy, Global Environment Center and Office of Energy and Technology. 

Kim was a part of the first HNIP Intern class in the summer of 1992. Today, she continues to be active with the program. From 2009 to 2011, she served as an At-Large member of the HACU Alumni Association Executive Board. 

She has a master’s degree in business administration from New Mexico State University.