ARIZONA CAMPUS
Karol Planadeball Fernandez (’25) was selected as part of the 2023 cohort of the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Affairs Information Technology (FAIT) Fellowship, with help from the university’s Office of Prestigious Awards and Fellowships.
The FAIT fellowship provides a wealth of resources and opportunities, including academic funding, professional development and mentoring, two summer internships — one in Washington, D.C., with the U.S. Department of State and one at an international U.S. embassy or consulate — and a five-year appointment as an information management specialist in the Foreign Service. “The fellowship is such a blessing and relief. It felt like all my work over the past years paid off.” Karol Planadeball ’25 Software Engineering When she was eight years old, Planadeball moved with her family from Puerto Rico to Texas. “One of the main reasons my mom moved to the U.S. was for her children to be able to pursue an education here,” she said. “She started crying when she found out I received the fellowship and told me she was so proud of me. I told her that her sacrifices weren’t in vain.” This past summer, she completed her D.C. Department of State internship with the Bureau of Diplomatic Technology.
“The point of the internship is to get used to the structure of government and get to know people here because when you go overseas, the connections are what matter. It’s the Department of State. Diplomacy is our thing,” Planadeball said. “This internship is not only to get some experience but to really focus on being able to communicate in the way that we do.” While learning the ins and outs of bureaucracy and putting her software quality assurance skills to use, Karol has met several other FAIT Fellows and interns of other departments and explored all the sights D.C. has to offer. “There’s a very special bond that forms within the cohort because we’re all connected by this one thing, and we get to know each other really well,” she said. For her international internship next summer, she hopes to be placed in South, East or Southeast Asia. “I just have an innate curiosity and have always wanted to experience different cultures. I would like to incorporate that with my love of technology.”
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