Sunday 21, 2024
Today I woke up very early because today I had to do volunteer service with CHCI as a group. Juan, Carlos, Gizel, Cindy, Beca, Stephanie, and I attended the Afro-Latino Festival and helped set up the vendors and their placements. We also moved several benches around and assisted the vendors with any concerns that they had. Once we completed our three hours of volunteer work, we went to eat lunch at a Mexican restaurant. I had a torta and horchata to drink, and after the meal I was very tired.
We all headed back to our dorms and I took a nap because I had been up since 5 A.M. and within an hour and a half I got up again and headed to the metro because Anton, one of our supervisors invited us to his house for a get-together. When we got off at the metro stop, he was there with his friend Lopez to pick us up. When we got to his house we ate burgers and hot dogs and once we got done eating we listened to his friend Lopez about his life and career journey. It was inspiring to hear another Latino share his struggles and how he became the gentleman he is today. The hardships that we people of color have to face.
Monday 22, 2024
Today was a different day compared to others with CHCI. On this day, we went to the White House to meet with some White House appointees. At this meeting, the appointees shared potential internship opportunities inside the White House and how they got to work there. After the meeting, we took a group photo and headed out for lunch. We HEP/CAMP interns went to L'Enfant Plaza together for lunch. I got Subway and during our time there we saw some of the CHCI Next Gen High School Students. After we got done eating, we went to the Department of Education where we listened to individuals with the White House Initiative talk about their jobs and share the stories of how they got to their current positions and the work they are doing.
Tuesday 23, 2024
Today like every workday at the USDA I attended the intern check-in where we were able to talk about our experiences and the projects that we are currently working on. After the check-in, I went to get some coffee with the other interns. Once I got back, I helped around the office to prepare for the arrival of the 1890 leaders. I printed out some documents for them and was able to connect with them before they left with Dr. Mike to map out the event for tomorrow. Once I was done, I went back to my dorm to drop off my stuff because today is our CHCI graduation! I dropped off my stuff, hopped on the metro, and headed to the capital for our graduation. When I got there we went over how we were going to walk up and get our certificate. While being there we heard from our cohort speaker Luka as well.
Wednesday 24, 2024
Today was a very busy day, I came to work early today at 7 AM to make sure everything was in place for the arrival of the 1890 National Scholars. It was great to see all the work I did for this event has now come together. It was great to see the next generation of leaders in person. We were able to hear about various topics such as conflict resolution, ethics, diversity and inclusion, and data collection.
Thursday 25, 2024
Today I joined a group of CHCI Next-Gen students. It was great seeing a younger generation wanting to be part of the change, especially people who share similar backgrounds. We went to see Senator Rick Scott of Florida and Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia. I enjoyed visiting Senator Warnock's office because I was able to make a connection for a future internship opportunity. I told the staff about my interest in agriculture and that’s when they told me there’s an opportunity to work on agriculture policy which caught my attention. After this event, I returned to my dorm and had my virtual one-on-one meeting with Cristian, our CHCI program manager.
Friday 26, 2024
Today I attended the morning intern check-in, and it was a little different today. We had Dr. Lisa Ramirez host our check-in and she had us write some showstoppers on the board. It was interesting to see the different showstoppers that my fellow interns and I wrote down on the board since we could relate these to either people we know or acknowledge they are something we have personally faced; however, we never let these showstoppers prevent us from getting to where we are today. Once we concluded with the check-in, all the interns from my office went to get a coffee from Dunkin' Donuts. Once we got back, we put some of the things used for the 1890 Scholar Program back into storage. Later in the afternoon, we had our USDA internship celebration which was sad because this was the last time that we would see some of the supervisors and all of the other USDA interns. It was a great time to socialize before we all return to our homes and become the next leaders of this generation.
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