Meet Abril Tavares
BBA, International Business and Marketing, 2010
Going into my last semester at UTEP I was not expecting any major changes in my life other than graduation, so moving to Washington D.C.
never even remotely crossed my mind. It was not until I ran into a friend who had just returned from his experience in the nation’s capital
that I began to look into the Bill Archer Fellowship Program.
He explained that the program was formed in order to bring highly motivated and accomplished students in the University of Texas System
Schools to Washington D.C. in order to intern and gain experience while taking part in classes focusing on policy, economics, and
persuasion. After that fateful encounter, I was so intrigued by the endless possibilities that this program could offer and decided to
apply to the program. I was motivated by the fact that graduation was upon me, that it would be my last chance to intern as an undergrad,
and the fact that it was in Washington D.C., the place the world has a constant watch on!
After interning with Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Fort Worth the summer of 2009, I knew that my future lay with the federal government
and decide to look for opportunities with federal agencies. But it was my education at UTEP and experiences as a whole, with
Lockheed Martin, C.H. Robinson (a 3rd party logistics company with offices in El Paso), the University Career Center, the
Medical Professions Institute and on-campus organizations which helped me obtain this amazing internship.
I am currently in the Student Career Experience Program with the Defense Logistics Agency- Energy, which is a part of the Department
of Defense, and have been granted the opportunity for a fulltime position after completion of the internship. This would not have happened
without the support of my family, friends, professors, past employers, and of course my soon to be alma mater UTEP.
The thing I have enjoyed the most, are the friendships that I have made with my fellow Archer, 31 of them! Between all of us we share
two houses, which is an adventure in it of itself. They are the best and brightest students that the UT system schools have to offer,
and I am amazed at all that I am learning from them.
Plus, every day going to work I walk by the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, and the Capitol Building, that is amazing!
