Raised in a hurricane-impacted trailer park about 10 minutes from FIU, Lazaro Yariel Bosch knew the odds were stacked against him – but his family was certain that he would be the first to attend and graduate from college.
While going to school full-time, Lazaro took on several jobs on campus to help provide for his family and care for his grandmother, who suffers from multiple sclerosis.
After learning about FIU in D.C. from fellow student ambassadors, Lazaro was set on landing a D.C. internship to develop his passion for science communications. However, having never stepped foot outside of Florida and not having the financial means to do so, he worried his passion would remain a dream.
But last fall, Lazaro was selected to intern in the Office of Communications at NASA headquarters, helping develop communication strategies for the Artemis Moon Mission. His internship was supported by the Make a Difference D.C. Scholarship Fund, through FIU in D.C.’s first virtual Fly-In Seminar, “D.C. and the World.”
Lazaro spent his last semester interning in person for CRD Associates, a lobbying firm in D.C. focused on appropriation requests for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Data Modernization initiative, where $500 million were allocated to the American Rescue Plan to provide real-time and forecasted data on COVID-19 and future pandemics.
After graduation, Lazaro will return to D.C. to work as a science communications and educational outreach intern for NASA Langley Research Center and the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) developing educational content to get kids excited about STEM.
