{"id":73977,"date":"2016-09-13T10:36:19","date_gmt":"2016-09-13T14:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=73977"},"modified":"2018-06-19T16:12:25","modified_gmt":"2018-06-19T20:12:25","slug":"ucf-student-excels-internship-washington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-student-excels-internship-washington\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Student Excels During Internship in Washington"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>During Hispanic Heritage Month, UCF Today will share some of our students\u2019 and faculty members\u2019 stories and how being Latino has shaped their lives.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Every day for an entire semester, Alex A. Alvarado would wake up, walk to Capitol Hill, and say to himself: \u201cMan, how did I get here?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Both resourceful and ambitious, this legal studies major grabbed at a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a behind-the-scenes look of government during one of the nation\u2019s most colorful election periods.<\/p>\n<p>Alvarado is the first UCF student to be selected for a highly competitive Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute internship. He was one of 22 selected nationwide. The internship aims to give low-income Latino students demonstrating a strong academic record an opportunity to experience working in a congressional office while participating in weekly professional and leadership development, and civic engagement through community service. He was assigned to Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the first Hispanic woman elected to Congress. She represents the 27th Congressional District \u2013 Alvarado\u2019s home district.<\/p>\n<p>Alvarado, who was born and raised in Miami, used to see his mother juggling two and three jobs to support his family, and he thought, \u201cHow can I change the system? How can I alleviate and help people who are in a similar situation?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Seeing his mother and father struggle, especially after they were laid off three times during the recession, was difficult. It was these life moments that pushed Alvarado to a career in public policy and politics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve always had this intellectual curiosity as to why do things happen the way they do,\u201d he said, \u201cAnd how can we change it? Or how can we at least try to figure out what the problem is, and determine a solution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Among writing policy briefs, conducting research for legislative aides, and attending committee meetings, Alvarado also had a chance to network with many politicians in Washington.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe hours are crazy, but I\u2019ve never loved something so much. It\u2019s almost like you\u2019re not working, just part of something that is constantly moving,\u201d Alvarado said.<\/p>\n<p>One of the hardest lessons Alvarado said he learned during his internship was how much fluff there can be in politics. He hopes to change that one day.<\/p>\n<p>Alvarado saw Florida Sens. Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan in action. He also saw President Obama during an exclusive event at the White House.<\/p>\n<p>He said the highlight of his internship was receiving a plaque signed with a message from Ros-Lehtinen honoring his hard work.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe told me, \u2018You work so hard. I\u2019ve seen you always helping and do anything you can to help me. You\u2019re always trying to do everything perfectly,\u2019 and during the graduation at the end of the program she spoke and had me join her at the podium. It was a humbling moment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>And one of those politicians he met, led him to another internship opportunity as a legislative intern with Rep. John Mica.<\/p>\n<p>Alvarado said the internship and the opportunity to meet 22 others with similar experiences has made him more confident. After graduation, Alvarado plans earn a master\u2019s degree in public administration and eventually run for office.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDespite adversities you can find a way, even when you think there is no way to make it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely made me think I can do more.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During Hispanic Heritage Month, UCF Today will share some of our students\u2019 and faculty members\u2019 stories and how being Latino has shaped their lives. Every day for an entire semester, Alex A. Alvarado would wake up, walk to Capitol Hill, and say to himself: \u201cMan, how did I get here?\u201d Both resourceful and ambitious, this legal studies major grabbed at&hellip;","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":73978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[5,6,27],"tags":[202],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-73977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colleges","category-community","category-student-life","tag-alumni"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UCF Student Excels During Internship in Washington<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"During Hispanic Heritage Month, UCF Today will share some of our students\u2019 and faculty members\u2019 stories and how being Latino has shaped their lives. 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