Modesto, Calif., Junior College Students Get Hispanic Federal Internships.

Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Jun. 5 -- Spying is not among Sonia Garcia's career choices. Nonetheless, the Central Intelligence Agency recruited the Modesto Junior College graduate for an internship this summer.

She is one of four MJC students who will work for federal agencies through an internship program sponsored by the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities.

Students were selected for their academic record, their familiarity with computers and the Internet, and their community service. It's the first time MJC has participated in the association's program, which accepts about 40 students from California.

Garcia, 19, doesn't think she'll engage in any Tom Clancy-like intrigue. Her assignment: Helping to set up contracts for military and medical equipment. She doesn't know who buys the supplies. Maybe other governments, she figures.

What's important for her is that she has a chance to travel to another part of the country and work for an agency that has intrigued her since she was a young girl. The association will cover her living expenses in Philadelphia, where she'll live in an apartment on her own for the first time.

"It's also kind of scary," said Garcia, an international business major who will transfer to San Diego State University when she returns to California in August. "I think I'm going to learn a lot. I'm ready for it."

Other summer interns are Marcia Medina, who will will work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in West Virginia, and Max Tejeda and Elida Vizcarra, both of whom will work with the Department of Defense in San Antonio. They'll each receive a $390 weekly stipend during the 10-week-long internship and a place to live.

The students left Friday for a weeklong orientation in Washington, D.C., before heading off to their respective internships.

Vizcarra, 20, said she will use her internship to beef up her resume. Her major is business administration, and she has another semester to finish at MJC before transferring to California State University, Sacramento.

"I plan on coming back to MJC and being a motivator for other students, letting them know how it goes, and encouraging more students to apply to the program," she said. "It's a marvelous opportunity. It's something I wouldn't be able to do here in Modesto."

Both young women are ideal candidates for the association's internships because of their commitment to education, said Modesto financial planner Gene Carillo. He met both Garcia and Vizcarra as a mentor for Downey High School's Hispanic Youth Leadership Club, sponsored by the Hispanic Leadership Council.

"They don't let things stand in their way," Carillo said. "They find a way to go around it and they won't give up."

Garcia said the job with the CIA fits nicely with her interests in international business. She speaks Spanish and some French, and she expects to travel in the future. In San Diego, she will have dual enrollment with a university across the border in Tijuana, where her parents lived before they came to California.

"It's so weird how the world changes. They think it's really weird that I'm going back to where they came from. They're very excited for me."

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