HEPCAMP/ Graduation / White House?!

Monday:

For Monday's programming we did a site visit to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) where we were able to meet and talk with senior directors and learn about the various aspects of their work. It resonated with me because a lot of the work these senior directors do is similar to the work I would be doing at the LULAC office, but that there are also significant differences. I learned that they are enacted by Congress and remain truly non-partisan, unlike LULAC which is what I feel like a reactive organization that reacts to what’s going on around the Latino community. It was a fairly short but very informational day. 

This week was fairly special to me for many reasons, but the main one being able to speak to congressional offices about the importance of HEPCAMP and why withholding appropriated funds has a much bigger impact to migrant and seasonal farm working students all across the United States. From Tuesday to Thursday, the whole HEPCAMP internship cohort visited multiple offices spreading the word like wildfire. This really helped me get rid of the anxiety I had of talking to congressional offices, as this experience really empowered me and helped me realize that members of Congress work for us and should listen to us the people. Also, since I didn't work in the Capitol, it was really nice to be able to learn all the hallways, eat at the cafeterias and see the offices for my representatives and senators. I think the best part was that by the end of the first day I felt truly empowered by how all the CAMP directors made me feel--especially having my biggest advocate alongside me, Greg Contreras. I felt like I could’ve gone directly to the White House and talk to the man himself about HEPCAMP.

Tuesday:

After I was liberated from my duties on Tuesday I headed down to the capitol visitor's center where my amazing boss Dr. Ray Serrano alongside other respective members of various health organizations hosted a panel on the danger of GLP-1’s and how their advertisements target vulnerable people and have no trusted data backing up that they work.

Tuesday was also Graduation Day, I guess you could say it was a pretty jam-packed day. Being with everyone and realizing that the end was closer than we imagined was a blessing and a curse because I genuinely enjoyed meeting and talking with everyone. We had our graduation on the House side of the Capitol in a foyer that looked like somewhere straight out of a movie. At the event we had the presence of Representatives Maxwell Frost, Chuy García, Darren Soto, Juan Vargas, and others. It really made the event feel much more important than I had originally thought, and of course because some of the HEP and CAMP directors were in town they attended this event as well. I was reminded of my accomplishment and all the great work I’ve done when Greg Contreras told me that I was his first student that he ever saw graduate from the CHCI program. I still couldn’t believe I was the first in my school's history to get this prestigious internship and with my biggest advocate alongside me, I finally accepted it and owned the accomplishment. 

It was a bittersweet moment because as much as we wished we were done with programming, we still had a week left to go. The graduation was more about wrapping up and celebrating the work we had accomplished since the beginning of the program. Through our participation in CHCI, we were able to learn more about what we can do after the program and how to stay connected. Anyways, here’s all of us with our diplomas!!

After our office visits on Thursday, I dropped by the Library of Congress to walk around and hopefully get a library card but with the long lines and short time frame it wasn’t possible. Still, being able to walk around and see the architecture was a highlight of the trip.

One of the great things about working at LULAC is having the ability to publish articles with local/important news stations in the area. I had the great privilege to co-write not only one but two separate article that were published talking about the importance of protecting K-12 education for undocumented immigrants in Maryland and what enshrining citizenship in Maryland would mean/impact it would have on the safety of its residents. 

Another experience that I will remember forever will be visiting the White House. Thanks to Ivette and her office, she was given tickets to do a White House tour which I said yes to because one doesn’t know when the next opportunity would arise. Although I wish all of us could’ve attended, it was only Angel, Ivette and myself who went. It was a self paced tour but we took our sweet time walking through every room and looking through every corner of each room. I’m not going to lie, the whole time in there I thought to myself “I can’t wait till I come back here again, not as a visitor but as the President”. It was just a thought that went with me in every room I stepped into. I was able to see some of the oldest gifts and paintings in U.S. History displayed all around the White House and learn the history behind them. Afterwards we went to a restaurant across the street from the White House called Old Ebbit Grill, a restaurant with just as much history but in its own respective way. 

I also have this wild thought that D.C knew we were leaving soon because I was seeing some of the prettiest sunsets and best weather I had experience throughout the whole trip LOL.