Luz Gonzalez didn’t speak English when she came to the U.S.
– now she’s at UC Berkeley and off to Washington, D.C. for an
internship
Gilroy – Luz Gonzalez smiles effortlessly, revealing her obvious satisfaction as she shows off her post-Christmas Day purchase – a perfect pair of BCBGirls black pumps, the last ones available in her size, in exactly the style she’s searched for for the past two years.
From shoes to college to career, Gonzalez, 19, has yet to exit her teen years, but this woman knows what she wants. When it came time to apply to college the Gilroy High School graduate set her eye on the University of California, Berkeley. She wanted to attend school with a prestigious, recognizable name.
Also, she was attracted to the political activism associated with the university. But Gonzalez now a sophomore at Berkeley, quickly discovered that the students at her dream school were more apathetic than involved.
Rather than mourn the demise of Baby Boomer activism, Gonzalez decided to get involved. She applied and landed a position as project director of the Associated Students of the University of California, Berkeley, an entirely student-run organization.
Through ASUC she heard about an internship program called Cal in the Capitol. Two months ago Gonzalez applied for the Washington, D.C. internship. She wasn’t alone.
ASUC received about 140 applicants for between 60 to 75 slots.
After submitting a resume and answering a list of questions, Gonzalez sat through a group interview with about 10 other applicants and the three ASUC directors.
Each applicant pulled a question from a bowel in the middle of the table and posed it to another student. When Gonzalez’s turn came she was asked why she was interested in interning in Washington “and I said ‘Oh my God, it’s Washington and I want to pursue politics as a career.'”
She recently learned that she was accepted and will spend six weeks of her summer vacation interning in the nation’s capitol. Students accepted to Cal in the Capitol can choose where they want to apply, whether it be a non-profit, senator’s office or the White House.
Gonzalez plans to spend her Christmas break researching different departments but she’s already leaning toward interning in the office of an ambassador or senator. The determined teen wants to ensure that her internship is productive.
“I don’t want to be stuck getting the coffee for someone,” she said.
Her dream, which with a smile she says would be pretty tough to nab, is to intern for Sen. Hillary Clinton.
It’s true that securing an internship in the former first lady’s office is difficult, but Gonzalez has already managed to rise above a bevy of challenges.
At the age of 9, Gonzalez and her family immigrated to Gilroy, trading a house in Mexico for one bedroom of a three-bedroom apartment they shared with two other families.
Although they spent about two years living in such cramped quarters before moving to their own apartment, Gonzalez said the enormity of the situation never affected her.
“I didn’t think much of it, but now that I think back I think ‘wow,'” she said.
Initially they were only planning to stay for a year.
“But then my dad decided that the educational opportunities were better and the standard of living, for us, was better,” Gonzalez said.
Although both her parents were college-educated, her mother was a teacher in Mexico and her dad an electrical engineer, they only spoke Spanish and couldn’t work in their fields.
Gonzalez herself only knew a smidgen of English. She remembers going to Wal-Mart with her parents and spending “forever” asking where they could find a gallon of drinking water.
But those days are long behind Gonzalez. Today, the confident collegiate speaks without a trace of an accent. In between studying she teaches gymnastics to children at the Berkeley gym and keeps her voice in tune by singing in the shower.
After college she plans on attending law school and, if she ends up loving Washington, working there. But whatever she does Gonzalez knows she wants to work to improve education.
“That’s the big thing,” she said. “I feel the education system here and in the United States needs some work.”
Gonzalez, who quickly names Las Animas Elementary School teachers who inspired her – Marisela Barco, her fifth grade teacher and Martha Martinez, her fourth grade teacher – also thinks educators don’t get enough respect.
And that’s a major part of the problem, she said. Because teachers are underpaid and undervalued, Americans don’t strive to enter the profession.
“The motivation isn’t there,” she said. “It effects the kids and they’re not at fault.”
Luis Gonzales
– Age: 19
– Born: Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico
– Education: Gilroy High School, 2004; attends University of California,
Berkeley
– Family: Mom, Maria de La Luz Fernandez; dad, Jesus Gonzalez; siblings, Diana Gonzalez, 12; Jesus Gonzalez, 10.
– Hobbies: Gymnastics, singing
