Estefani Rondon '07 - Brazil
“My trip has reaffirmed my commitment to doing International Service, especially with countries with such potential as Brazil .”
Estefani's mother emigrated from Peru to the United States in 1988, so Estefani, born in 1985 in Lima , was raised by her father, four siblings, grandmother and aunt, “in between Peru 's sunny west coast and in the mountainous south.” She had a very fulfilling and happy childhood living in a lower middle class family. At nine, she moved to the Washington , DC area, where she attended public schools.
She began working at the age of 14 at a local bakery in Bethesda . Since then, she has done work for Blue Cross Blue Shield, The Democratic Grassroots Action Institute Network, Senator Daschle, Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth, Congressman Ben Chandler, and Senator Kerry. Currently she works for the Foreign Agricultural Service in the Department of Agriculture and pursuing a career in public service.
In high school, studying and holding numerous jobs, she also belonged to the wrestling and field hockey teams. That experience taught her discipline both inside and outside of the field and the mat. She maintained a high GPA and participated in extracurricular activities during high school, but college seemed an unattainable goal because of her financial situation and SAT scores, but her family encouraged her to apply.
All the members of her family had been her “hero at one point or another,” so she persevered. To her surprise she was accepted to all the colleges to which she applied, but she chose Trinity because it had smaller classes and it was an all women's college where she felt she could concentrate more on academics than the typical college coed experience might allow. Also, Trinity's Division III sports programs in field hockey and tennis would allow her to play sports competitively and stress-free so that she could concentrate on her studies.
Since her first semester in the fall of 2003, she has developed a new passion for academics and her major interests are in the correlation of Political Science, Economics, International Affairs and Philosophy. She has also developed an interest in many other activities and hobbies such as reading, writing, participating in political debates, playing an instrument, tennis, poker, chess and doing volunteer work with children and the elderly.
Currently in her third year at Trinity, she is grateful for many opportunities that she would not have had at other schools, such as the one-on-one relationships with the faculty and her acceptance into the country's first Intelligence Community Program. As an IC Scholar she has been able to travel to Brazil and has been exposed to a different culture and language. Although Estefani has traveled extensively in the United States and Peru , her trip to Brazil was one of her most life-changing experiences. Brazil 's culture, people and geography were “welcoming, bright and desirable.” She says “I have never seen a larger group of people who have managed to keep hope through such struggles; in fact it seemed that the people who had struggled the most seemed to be happier and more hopeful than the rest.”
Estefani was in Brazil from May 22 to June 12. She already speaks fluent Spanish and intends to specialize in Latin America . She wanted however to be exposed also to Portuguese-speaking Brazil , which has a totally different culture, language and political structure than the rest of Latin America . She majors in Political Science with a minor in International Affairs. She visited Rio, Salvador and Ipanema, and her program included an intensive round of activities, readings and lectures.
Law school is her post-graduation destination, and she plans to study International Law, perhaps at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. Her goal is to have a career in the intelligence field.
She describes her trip:
“My trip to Brazil was an exciting and fulfilling experience. I visited very different places— Rio de Janeiro and Salvador . Within the first few days of my stay in Rio de Janeiro , I fell in love with its lively culture, friendly people, and beautiful scenery— Rio has it all!
Rio geographically has the best of all worlds because it has the beach, mountains, forest, and the city all in one common area. But the scenery alone is not all that Rio has to offer; I think the Brazilians were what made my experience even more fulfilling because they knew how to make others feel comfortable. Even though I didn't speak the language very well at first, every day it was easy to meet new people because every transaction, from buying groceries to getting on the bus demanded human interaction. In addition, I noticed that Brazilians have a tendency to be less shy and more friendly than most people----maybe it's due to their traditions or it could just be the warm weather. Either way, everywhere I went I was greeted warmly with a big smile and open invitation for small talk.
Overall each day was filled with new faces and new knowledge about Brazil and its people.”