Monday
Today was different than most Mondays. We actually did not go to The Washington Center.
which is where we usually have programming for CHCI. Instead, we had some panels set
up for us at the White House and at the Department of Education. We didn't go to the
actual White House, but we went to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. There we
had a panel of CHCI alum that talked to us about their backgrounds and their current
careers. All of them either work at the White House or work at different federal agencies
here in DC. Like always it is very informative to hear about different peoples' paths. We
also heard about the White House internship that is offered in the spring. At the Department
of Education they talked to us about the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence
for Hispanics. I think all the work they are doing for that initiative at the Department of
Education is very necessary and helpful to our community. It is to our benefit if Hispanics
are being better supported when they are pursuing higher education. I recently wrote a
blog post about the challenges and solutions of Latinos attaining education and what I
took from it was that Latinos getting a quality education is linked with moving up the
economic and social ladder.
No Boss
Tuesday
I started out the day by getting a coffee from Dunkin Donuts and then made my way to my
office. Once I got there, Shirley, an administrative specialist in my office, let me know that
my supervisor was not going to be here today due to her being at a conference or some
sort of meeting in Virginia. After that, I made my way to my office's conference room for our
morning meeting, which we have every Tuesday. In these meetings, my office informs
the Deputy of different events she has coming up and then the Deputy also asks the team
to do complete certain tasks. I spent most of my day working on my final project. I left work a little early today because we had our graduation from CHCI today. The graduation was being held at the Capitol Visitor Center. It was a good reception; they offered food and drinks, and a couple of the speakers were congressmen and women. It was a good time celebrating with everyone.
Farm Workers are Skilled Workers
Wednesday
I am sure I mentioned her in one of my last blog posts, but today I got the chance to sit in a
stakeholders meeting with Silvia Fabela, who is a senior advisor in the Office of the
Secretary. She primarily focuses on topics like immigration and farm worker labor rights
and has recently led the implementation of a pilot program at the USDA that improves farm
workers' working conditions. Today, she had a meeting with a group of people who grow
specialty crops, and they were sharing their concerns about the cost of having H2A
workers. They were essentially saying that the farm workers should be getting paid less
and that they are not skilled workers. When I heard this, I was angered a bit. My
family has such an extensive background of working in the fields, and I one hundred
percent think farm work is one of the most honorable jobs someone can do, so I did not like
that comment at all. Neither did Silvia; she quickly defended farm workers in a very
respectful manner. This meeting really just fueled my desire to advocate for farmworkers
even more. I really admire the work that Silvia does, and I hope that I can get to the point
she is one day. Although I disagreed with what the stakeholders were saying, I do
understand that a lot of their income does go into contracting and having H2A workers, but
they are the only people willing to do this hard work, so the least they deserve is good pay
and to be treated like humans.
Idaho's a Small World
Thursday
The first part of today's summary is going to include something that happened yesterday just because Wednesday was long. On Wednesday, I also attended the USDA's Town Hall, which is basically a pep rally for the USDA. We heard both the Secretary and the Deputy Secretary speak, as well as some people from different mission areas. My favorite part of it was the interactive part, where we used this website to ask polls and questions to the whole audience. I pitched this idea to the team, and they went with it. The Deputy gave me a high five and thanked me for the idea. Now, for Thursday, I worked on my project, but I got to sit or actually listen to meetings with Silvia Fabela. The first one was a meeting with an H2A worker protection working group. There were various people from different federal agencies and programs. The second meeting was a listening session about farm workers' wages with different stakeholders. I am very grateful that Silvia invited me to these meetings because I learned a lot. After work, I went to dinner with someone from Idaho who works in an Idaho senator's office. He invited his ex-roommate, who is also a fellow Idahoan, and two other guys from the Idaho office. It was a great time getting to know them and hearing about what they do. I realized I had a lot in common with the guy who invited me to dinner and his ex-roommate. We realized we knew some of the same people, and that he also went to U of I. I got their contact info and plan on staying in touch with them. (The pictures are from my walk there).
Accomplished people
Friday
I started the day by going through my emails and responding to everyone who had emailed me after I left work yesterday. After this I met with Lisa Ramirez, who is the director of OPPE (Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement). I wanted to get a one-on-one in with her before completing my internship because she used to work with the Department of Education with the Office of Migrant Education. It was very cool to talk to her because I got to hear everything she had done, but also because we went outside and talked on a bench in the mall while seeing the monument and the city. After this, I had a one-on-one with Deputy Secretary Torres Small. I had asked Russelie the previous week if we could set one up because I really had not had a real conversation with her. I talked to her for a bit about her time on the hill and about things that I care about. She gave me a USDA pin and a letter she wrote for me. It was a great talk. The rest of the day I spent my time working on my program. Also, I went to the Farmer's Market for the last time. I had gone to every single one before that, so it will definitely be something that I miss.
Last Weekend in DC
I spent my last weekend in DC doing community service, going out to my favorite places, going to some museums, and getting good food.
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