Meet LBSA’s first scholarship recipient, Cindy E. Paladines! She was awarded the scholarship during LBSA ‘s 2002 Banquet which set the stage for Alumni to get more involved and avenue to support students.
Major: Political Economy
INDUSTRY: International/Development Economics
CURRENT COMPANY: The World Bank Group. I currently work in their Jakarta, Indonesia office.
SPOTLIGHT A MAJOR ACHIEVEMENT IN YOUR PROFESSIONAL CAREER:
A costing study I worked on over a summer in graduate school led to the construction of a world-class hospital in northern Rwanda.
WHAT WAS YOUR TAKEAWAY FROM LBSA THAT HAS STUCK WITH YOU THROUGHOUT THE YEARS:
The LBSA community is very strong, and I’ve greatly benefitted from the friendships I made through the group. Not only have my LBSA friends proven to be a reliable sounding board for professional advice, they’ve also become like an extended family. I truly treasure the friendships I made through LBSA.
WHAT IS ONE PIECE OF ADVICE YOU WOULD OFFER TO A CURRENT STUDENT:
May I cheat and give two little tidbits of advice?
1. Take a lot of math and science courses in college, even if it isn’t a requirement of your major. I was so awe-struck by Fillippenko’s last Astro 10 lecture that I was literally moved to tears. Although I was initially reticent to take math at the collegiate level, I loved the math and statistics courses I did take, and have found the language of math to be an extremely valuable tool in my career.
2. Travel now, and travel often. Like many of you, I spent part of my childhood in Latin America. Perhaps as a result, I was motivated to continue traveling and learning about people and cultures outside of California. As clichéd as it might sound, our world really is becoming increasingly globalized – take the opportunity now to get to know how people elsewhere live and interact. At Cal, I gained really valuable work and life experience in Spain, led an alternative spring break group to Nicaragua, and interned with an SF-based organization that led me to posts in Peru and then India following graduation. I’ve now worked and traveled in more than 50 countries.
WHAT IS YOUR PASSION OUTSIDE OF WORK:
Travel; reading fiction and non-fiction; scuba diving and swimming; and staying connected to friends and family via skype, email, and chat.
LBSA Alumni Fund 