Kimberly Cruz-Cruz

Student outreach representatives from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) visit Jefferson to talk about career paths involving STEM in the CIA and student opportunities. “[Another CIA representative] invited me to join her because this is a STEM school and both of my degrees are in computer science and systems engineering. If any questions about CIA fields [arise] that contain those sciences, I could answer them,” CIA officer Michelle said.

The Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) student outreach representatives visited Jefferson on March 13 during lunch to bring more information about the CIA’s mission and possible internship opportunities.

“[An officer] invited me to join her because this is a STEM school and both of my degrees are in computer science and systems engineering. The CIA always has to make sure to share information about opportunities because sometimes students don’t know about them,” CIA officer Michelle said. 

Holding these meetings at the high school level allows students to explore unique careers.

“It was mostly student-driven, there was a student who contacted me who was interested in pursuing a career in the CIA and asked for any guidance and direction,” college and career specialist Kendel Gilchrest said. “I reached out to my community of college and career specialists and asked if any of them had any contacts with the CIA. I emailed the [representatives] and asked if they had any intelligence officers that could come over.”

Allowing students to hear what different careers offer is important so they have lots of options in mind and it gives the representatives a chance to bring to light what the CIA actually does.

“The purpose of this event was to demystify what the CIA is, and they talked a lot about the CIA not being this cloaks, daggers, meeting in dark alleyways, and trenchcoats, but that being part of the CIA means you look like an everyday normal person,” Gilchrest said.

Even in the work line of the CIA, their day-to-day lives do not look like a spy movie; instead, they focus on a variety of jobs that range from STEM-related fields to analytics.

“The CIA is not [composed of] spies, it’s made up of technical intelligence officers that work with foreign assets to gain information. We aren’t doing the spying. We’re usually working with others overseas who gain and give us information about certain topics,” CIA outreach representative Michelle said. 

Debunking the myths and providing facts brings students answers and opportunities that they could pursue.

“I went out of pure curiosity. I am unsure [of] what I want to do with my life and have been exploring options for a while,” senior Sonali Behera said. “I wanted to see what paths the CIA holds and whether it aligns with anything I am interested in pursuing.” 

With this new guidance, students learned more about the possibilities, perhaps giving them a push towards their future.

“It gives students a bigger picture of what they can do with a career in STEM,” Gilchrest said. “I don’t know that a lot of students who come to Jefferson think, ‘Oh, I’m studying STEM classes and I could work for the CIA someday.’ But, in reality, they would love Jefferson students to [apply], and there [are] lots of internships. It’s a neat opportunity to give students a bigger vision for what they can do in their futures.”