Video 2017: Carina DeBarcelos' internship helped build her confidence.

Video 2017: Carina DeBarcelos' internship helped build her confidence.
Carina DeBarcelos' internship helped build her confidence.

As a recipient of the Michael Dukakis Public Service Internship award, Carina DeBarcelos interned at the State House and created a path to her future.

I definitely want to be an education policy analyst—to make sure that students who are in these disadvantaged school systems have that opportunity to get the best education available, to be able to go to college, and to follow their dreams.

This past spring, I was selected as a recipient of the Michael Dukakis Public Service Internship Award, and I got to work with Representative Robert Koczera at the Massachusetts State House in Boston.

Getting to understand how school financing works was definitely something substantial for me, but it was also useful for my Representative knowing that I contributed to something that he could pursue was really important to me.

Before this internship, I thought that being a policy analyst and going into a public policy program would be for me, but I wasn’t entirely confident.

Once I did this internship, it cemented that idea that this is exactly what I want to do, and where I need to be.

This would have not happened at all if it wasn’t for UMass Dartmouth. It sealed the way for what I want to do in the future.