Juniors Kshitij Kumar and Joselyn Carballo will intern at the State Department in Washington, D.C this summer as assistant translators for the French and Spanish Embassies respectively.

Only two students from Fairfax County were to be selected for these positions.

To apply for this internship, a student must be selected by his or her teacher to represent the school in their given language. The pool narrows to two students based on their performances on an essay and speaking assessment similar to PALS.

Finally, after further evaluation, the State Department chooses one student to represent each language.

For Carballo, Spanish is more than just a class.

“I’ve been in immersion for a while now and my family speaks it at home,” said Carballo. “When my teacher brought up the program in class, I immediately thought it was a great opportunity for me.”

Kumar eagerly anticipates the opportunity to utilize his French skills in the real world.

“It should be a great experience because I get to work with the government,” said Kumar. “Last summer, I went to Governor’s School to learn French, and now I get to apply my language skills to my work in the embassy.”

Both Kumar and Carballo will work with State Department translation services, translating documents along with embassy experts. They will work eight-hour shifts for $14 an hour. Carballo thinks that this internship may pave the way for future endeavors.

“I want to minor in Spanish,” said Carballo. “I am interested in eventually opening up my own practice to help Spanish-speaking immigrants.”