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HACU Internship Places UST Student at IRS
7/18/2007
 Visiting the Grand Canyon and the nation’s capital were just some of the perks senior accounting major Paula Henao has experienced during her 10-week internship with the Department of Treasury, Internal Revenue Service this summer.
Henao is one of 444 students from 223 colleges and universities that are participating in paid summer internships through the Hispanic Association of College and Universities’ National Internship Program.
This University of St. Thomas student has taken the opportunity to apply her education in the real world. This internship extends beyond making copies and coffee runs; Henao is in a hands-on working environment, which involves researching complex tax issues, compiling and analyzing various comparative spreadsheets and visiting with actual taxpayers.
Henao learned about the internship while she was receiving resume help from the Career Services and Testing Center. “As I left the office, I browsed the table display outside,” she said. “A few of the pamphlets and brochures caught my eye, including the one for HACU. I read it, became interested and applied.”
The program began with a three-day orientation in Washington, D.C., with hundreds of other interns. Now five full weeks into the internship, Henao serves as an aide to the Large and Mid-Sized Business revenue agents.
“I have been able to apply all of the accounting concepts and tax laws learned in my courses, and have honed my critical thinking techniques,” Henao said. “My education from UST has indirectly influenced me in the way I work, manage my time and in the way I treat other people. I feel that the respect I give others and the diligence I give to my work comes from the academic environment UST provides. Thanks to this experience with the IRS, I have validated my interest in working in the tax field, and more importantly I have made a career decision about working for the government.”
Henao’s accounting professor, Ramon Fernandez echoes her sentiments. “Paula has a strong interest in the taxation area and she pursued the internship with the IRS in order to further that interest. I think that working in this IRS-sponsored volunteer program and meeting some of the IRS people during the training made her even more interested in working with the organization. She likes the technical aspects of working in tax, but she also enjoys the service side and the interaction with the taxpayers as she helps them resolve tax issues. This IRS internship has been a great experience for Paula and was an excellent fit for her,” Fernandez said.
The University of St. Thomas is a member of HACU and is recognized as an institution that parallels its goals. Since 1992, more than 6,500 students have benefited from paid HACU internships with federal government agencies and, since 1998, with corporations and non-governmental organizations.
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