Citlali Avila-Cabrera stands in front of the headquarters of the Organization of American States, where she first interned while a student at Lander University. Avila-Cabrera now works for OAS as a project assistant. Photo submitted by Avila-Cabrera
If one is looking for evidence that the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Lander University is preparing its students for lives of public service, they should look no further than to the nation’s capital.
There, Lander students regularly take part in the Washington Semester Program, which includes completing college coursework while also interning for members of Congress, federal agencies and non-profit organizations. Some have even been successful in parlaying those experiences into successful careers.
One recent graduate of Lander University, Citlali Avila-Cabrera, of Greenwood, did just that. She first interned in Washington, D.C. in the fall of 2023 for the Organization of American States (OAS), an intergovernmental organization that consists of governments across the Americas. A year after her graduation from Lander, she found herself back in the capital as a project assistant for the same organization that provided her with a rewarding internship.
A lot of those same projects Avila-Cabrera started on as an intern were in their final stages when she came back to work for OAS as a project assistant. She has found it rewarding to see these projects through to fruition.
During Avila-Cabrera’s tenure at OAS, she has been part of the Universal Civil Identity Program in the Americas. This program promotes access to identity for all persons, particularly those who face challenges in obtaining identification documents, such as birth certificates and I.D. cards. Avila-Cabrera helps plan, coordinate and monitor projects in the Western Hemisphere working toward this goal, and it is work that she is proud of.
“It’s something we take for granted in the United States: how easy it is to get an I.D. card here,” Avila-Cabrera said, noting that even in the most rural of South Carolina counties, one can get a driver’s license or a state-issued I.D. card fairly easily.
“That’s not always the case everywhere,” she said. “Access to identification offices can be harder.”
When asked, Avila-Cabrera quickly pinpointed all the ways in which her Lander education translated into her day-to-day career, from the public budgeting class she took for her public administration concentration, to the core academic skills she refined in close-reading, writing and research.
“Right now, I’m doing a lot of research for upcoming projects,” Avila-Cabrera said, adding that she has also relied heavily on the courses she took in international relations as part of her political science degree.
“I feel like everything at Lander has been put to use in one way or another,” she said.
Her former professors find this career field very fitting for Avila-Cabrera. While a student, her research interests focused on foreign relations within the Western Hemisphere, citizenship and international law. Her senior year included the experience of presenting her own research at a professional academic conference.
Dr. Lucas McMillan, dean of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, praised Avila-Cabrera for her blossoming career at the Organization of American States, noting that her talents, along with her dedication to her academic and co-curricular activities, were always impressive while a student at Lander. Among other awards and recognitions, McMillan selected Avila-Cabrera for the Dean’s Award her senior year with this dedication in mind.
“Citlali was a leader in Lander’s student organizations, earned academic scholarships and always had ambitions for a life of public service,” McMillan said. “I am joined by several of her former professors in cheering for her continued career success.”