Class: Looking Forward
Alessandra González

I often feel like I’m living life constantly jet-lagged—never quite getting over what just happened and never quite knowing what to expect next. For example, my Rice career took some unusual steps in that I finished my coursework early enough to take a semester last fall to intern at the State Department in Washington, D.C. Because I completed my coursework early, I was able to accept an offer to continue working with my office until I begin graduate school. I consider myself fortunate to have had the background from Rice to open these doors to my future.

My latest adventure started last summer. Eager to pursue my interests in international relations, I gained some relevant experience through an internship at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy. Through this internship with the Americas Project coordinator, Erika de la Garza, I was exposed to the academic perspective of leadership building in the Western Hemisphere. I spent the latter half of the summer in D.C., working with Rice’s partner on this project, the Organization of American States. During my time there, I learned about the challenges as well as unique opportunities open to multinational organizations.

Then in the fall, while my friends at Rice were ringing in their senior year with O-week advising and class shopping, I was thrown into my present world of international relations at the highest levels. Every day at the Department of State is a unique opportunity to reaffirm values and priorities in foreign policy, to work to build consensus with other U.S. government agencies, and to dialogue with members of the private sector and civil society in order to maintain and build strong ties with other nations. On a daily basis at the State Department, I am able to see that, as in most of life, effective communication is the key to successful diplomacy. At times, I am surprised by the opportunities open to me. Though I have barely finished my college education, I find myself sitting in meetings with foreign service officers with a lifetime of experience behind them. Public service, which once was a seminal inspiration gained from past volunteer trips, has become somewhat of a newfound professional identity.

Though life after college brings many changes, I know the confidence with which I walk into work every morning stems from the same Alessandra that I was: a freshman with big dreams at what was then a gigantic world of possibilities at Rice University. And there is no doubt in my mind that the opportunities I had at Rice—to learn to consider critically the beliefs and opinions of others, to be diplomatic in the face of adversity, and to embrace unforeseen challenges—have prepared me to face the situations I now find myself in on a daily basis. I am now in that postcollege haze of early alarm clocks and late nights at the office known as the “real world,” and I am enjoying every minute of it.
This year, in the midst of the global frenzy of our nation’s capital—a year of inaugurations, cabinet changes, and high hopes—it seems natural to be looking forward. As I look in the mirror I see the same girl who, just four years ago as a freshman in college, confident that she had arrived with a purpose that was bigger than herself. Experience has only confirmed my opinion that leadership, at its core, is about learning to love and to serve others. For me, business as usual is expecting the unexpected. And tomorrow morning, amid the noise and clamor of the city, I will get up for business as usual—maybe not knowing all the answers or exactly what to expect but with a forward-looking purpose.