This past June and July, Ciencia Puerto Rico was fortunate to host three interns of the PARACa (from the Spanish acronym for Empowerment and Retention of Agents of Change) Summer VISTA Fellowship 2023 (PARACa). We want to congratulate Isaac Correa Pagán, Natalia Ramos Rivera, and Marylys Rivera for successfully completing their internships and thank them for their valuable contributions to our team! 

Our interns worked on a variety of projects, check them out below!

• Isaac Correa Pagán, civil engineering student at the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez and president of the organization Come Colegial, dedicated to promoting food security in the university’s community. Isaac worked with the Aquí Nos Cuidamos project. During the summer, he led the creation of project databases and an outreach plan, and wrote four biweekly newsletters (subscribe here).  

• Natalia Ramos Rivera, a recent graduate of the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez with a bachelor's degree in nursing and a minor in business development. Natalia led the research, interviewing, and writing of a strategic plan for the Public Engagement with Science Division and a public and community engagement with science guide.

• Marylys Rivera, a recent graduate of the University of Puerto Rico in Ponce with a bachelor's degree in biomedicine. Marylys led the creation and development of an expanded outreach plan for the Semillas de Triunfo Program. She also collaborated in researching best practices and certifications needed for our educational programs. 

We are pleased to share that Isaac and Natalia will remain as interns this coming semester. Meanwhile, Marylys will be starting her doctoral studies in pharmacy.

Thanks again, Isaac, Natalia, and Marylys for being part of CienciaPR! It was a pleasure to have you this summer. We wish you much success!

Read the PARACa Summer VISTA Fellowship 2023 impact report (in Spanish).