You’ve been working in the federal government for a few weeks now, but what is it like to work there full-time? What do young employees have to say about their work? Come learn how you might leverage your internship into a full-time job and network with young federal employees.

Speaker 1

Gilbert Castellanos is an Environmental Scientist at the Washington, DC offices of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Originally hired into the Federal Government by the US Army Corps of Engineers in San Francisco, Gilbert joined the US EPA in 2002 through the EPA Intern Program.  During his 2-year internship, Gilbert worked in several different EPA offices and with the Department of Interior before taking his current position in 2004 at the Office of International Environmental Policy.

His responsibilities over the last 4 years have focused on managing the EPA's engagement with multilateral and other international organizations, principally with the United Nations (UN).

Recently, Gilbert took over new responsibilities for engaging Canada and Mexico on meeting our commitments to environmental provisions of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Gilbert graduated with honors in 2000 from the University of California, Berkeley where he received simultaneous degrees from the College of Natural Resources in Environmental Sciences (B.S.) and the College of Letters and Science in Anthropology (B.A.).

Originally from California, Gilbert has lived in Arlington, Virginia for the last 7 years.  He is an avid fisherman and enjoys mountain biking and photography.

Speaker 2 

Virginia Hill earned her Master of Social Work degree from Louisiana State University in May 2007. After spending two years as a clinical Social Worker in Baton Rouge, LA during the wake of Hurricane Katrina, her commitment and passion for helping others was strengthened. Virginia applied for the Presidential Management Fellows program in order to affect change through government work with leadership, policy, and outreach.  She accepted a PMF fellowship at the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services in August of 2007.  As a PMF, Virginia is focusing her attention on communications and public affairs to disseminate in creative ways the important biomedical research from the NIH.   

Speaker 3 

Jared Summers may be one of the younger civil servants in our military, but he recently led the retirement of one of the Air Force’s older aircraft and is now playing a key role for the largest acquisition program in Department of Defense history. 

When the Air Force decided to retire the F-117, America’s first stealth fighter, the initial cost estimate for this project was high. Although barely old enough to buy a drink, this young program manager at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base was selected to co-lead the disposition of the entire fleet, and he was charged with overseeing the day-to-day operations of this massive project. Ultimately, the project was completed under budget, achieving a savings of more than $200 million.  

Jared is a DoD civilian working for the US Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB. Currently he is an Acquisition Program Manager on the F-35 Lightning II aircraft. In this capacity he serves as the Sustainment Implementation lead for the Support Systems Integrated Product team. In addition to his duties Jared also takes an active role in junior force development. He implemented a Junior Force council which provides mentoring, networking, and career development opportunities to junior civilian and military members at his center.