Joshua Moreno is one of 28 students selected for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute
After he attended schools that were both low and high income, Joshua Moreno wants to inspire change in education policy to help provide more opportunities for students across the board. Moreno, a senior in aerospace engineering, says there were many differences between the experiences, but little things, like the one-one-one tutoring that was available in the Ankeny, Iowa, school district helped him improve his grades.
He has reflected on these differences quite a bit and continually looks for ways to learn more about how to work his personal interests into his future career.
That’s when he decided to apply for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.
Every semester, the institute chooses 28 students who are sponsored by different corporations to work in a congressional office in Washington, D.C. The students participate in professional development and networking workshops. Moreno enjoyed practicing the art of networking as well as working with his chief of staff and mentor to improve future opportunities.
Congressman Michael Capona from Boston, Massachusetts, worked with Moreno during the program. His district represented 37 universities (the most per district in the nation), helping Moreno learn more about the issues so close to his heart—education and legislative policy. Things he says he needs to know to be able to make a change.
He says the experience opened his eyes to opportunities to careers traditional aerospace engineering companies and positions. Moreno is now considering applying to a variety of companies, organizations and job titles after interacting with company CEO’s, founders and presidents. “I was able to talk to a lot of them, get their opinions and learn a lot from them. It definitely changed my future career goals.”
Moreno also interned in China in summer 2014, where he wrote an optimization code for a scram-jet engine. He knows that both internship experiences have given him a well-rounded experience and looks forward to what the future holds.