Personal Motivation For The Hacu National Internship Program

1. What is your personal motivation to apply for the HACU National Internship Program? Barrio Logan is a neighborhood located half an hour from the border. This neighborhood was featured in Gangland, a TV show about dangerous gangs in America. A neighborhood where industries and factories shared the same air as people s homes. At one point, Barrio Logan had one of the highest asthma related emergency room visits in California. The living conditions that residents were subjected to were under what we would consider a dignified quality of life. This is attributed by many, including myself, to the lack of educated residents in Barrio Logan: only 34% of Barrio Logan residents 25 and older have a high school diploma and less than 4% have a bachelor s degree or higher. I am one of the few people of Barrio Logan with a high school diploma. I will also be one of the few to graduate from college. I was privileged enough to receive the education I obtained. It is because of that education that I understand that my community deserves better, not better than everyone else just bet ter than what we have experienced. Through schooling, I have learned that I have the potential to effect change. I am a strong believer that education is the great equalizer and all I want is to provide access to higher education for all. Interning for a federal agency or corporation will expose me to the systems that allow for our country to function, providing the knowledge I need to impact the lives of