CLAREMONT, Calif. (April 14, 2004) — Vicenta Arrizon, a Pitzer College senior, and Gilbert Gonzales ’03 have been selected to participate in the 2004-2005 Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs.
Arrizon and Gonzales will be based in the Los Angeles Coro Center and will take part in a series of internships, interviews, public service projects and seminars. They were among 64 interns chosen from a pool of 300-400 applicants nationwide.
The Coro Fellows Program is the most long-standing and well known of the Coro programs. It is an intensive nine-month, full-time, graduate-level program. Unconventional by traditional academic standards, the program is rigorous and demanding, and is an unparalleled opportunity for personal and professional growth.
Gonzales, who works as an Irvine Diversity Post Baccalaureate Urban Fellow with the Center for California Cultural and Social Issues at Pitzer College, plans to conduct most of his work and research in the area of homelessness and literacy programs to reduce recidivism rates among incarcerated youth.
Gonzales said a strong and encouraging faculty at Pitzer has helped to prepare him for the fellowship.
After this fellowship, he plans to attend law school and eventually hold political office. “The Coro fellowship will allow me to experience all aspects of public affairs from different perspectives while networking with some very influential people,” he said.
Arrizon participated in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute in the summer of 2003 in Washington, D.C. Her career goals include law school and entering politics as either a policy maker or campaign organizer.
By the end of the internship, Coro participants will have interned in a government agency, a corporation, a community organization, a media organization, a labor union and a political campaign.
Coro alumni include Sen. Dianne Feinstein, several members of congress and hundreds of executives in the business, public and nonprofit sectors in the U.S. In addition to Los Angeles, the program is conducted in San Francisco, St. Louis, New York and Pittsburgh.
