High School Student Gets Work Experience with TAMIU Internship

Sabrina Bustamante, 17, will be among the thousands of students enrolled at Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) this Spring.

Bustamante, a senior at Harmony Science Academy-Laredo, will take an online music course at TAMIU, a University with which she is already familiar.

In December, she completed a full semester working as an intern at the University’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) assisting at the office’s front desk, helping to refresh campus computers, install new phones and organizing documents.

The new internship program is part of an agreement between OIT and Harmony Science Academy, which requires students to complete an internship as part of its high school graduation requirement.

“I participated in the internship opportunity because I wanted to work with computers and learn computer networking,” Bustamante said.

Soon to graduate from high school, Bustamante, a valedictorian of her senior class, is waiting to hear from a U.S. Naval Academy scholarship program. A summer program she attended at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland to explore the career of midshipmen last year automatically qualified her to apply for a scholarship that, if received, provides her with $400,000 to seek a bachelor’s degree in science and an opportunity to serve for five years in the U.S. Navy.

“I want to major in computer science or server security in the Naval Academy,” she said.

Bustamante said the experience gained at OIT has helped her prepare for her future.

“I got to make friends with coworkers here and some have given me advice on what University courses to take,” Bustamante said, “Even though I’m in high school, the staff was willing to teach me and take me everywhere they went.”

Internships such as the one offered at OIT are important for college preparation, Bustamante said.

“They teach you how college is going to be, provide you with work experience and show those colleges you are applying to that you are willing to go above and beyond in your efforts.”

For more information, please contact the Office of Public Relations, Marketing and Information Services at 326.2180, e-mail prmis@tamiu.edu or visit offices located in the Sue and Radcliffe Killam Library, room 268.

Journalists who need additional information or help with media requests and interviews should contact the Office of Public Relations, Marketing and Information Services at prmis@tamiu.edu