Interpreting for the Brazilian Min. of Ed. Mr. Cid Gomes in New York

On Wednesday, March 4^th, 2015 I had the honor to work for the Brazilian Minister of Education Mr. Cid Gomes, as the Brazilian Government continues to work hard to ensure that Brazilian citizens have access not only to education within their national boarders, but also abroad through partnerships and programs such as the Brazil Scientific Mobility Program (Ciências sem Fronteiras) – a one-year, non-degree program for Brazilian students to study abroad in the United States.   Mr. Gomes met with the president of the Institute of International Education (IIE) Mr. Allan E. Goodman to speak about the present and future of Science Without Borders. This was a lively discussion that encompassed many statistics about the program, challenges and the future outlook.   In preparation for this interpretation assignment, I also had the pleasure to meet with two grantees of the BSM Program, who described this dream-come-true type of opportunity they were given. “This is really a program that has given me the chance to learn about many aspects of the American culture, beyond the obvious academic opportunity to further my understanding about civil engineering.” – said one of the students.   Not many people can really say they love the work they do, but for me, moments like these where I get the chance to meet with key government policy makers, and even more, personally get to see the positive results of their work, that is when I can say without a shadow of a doubt, that I love being a Portuguese Interpreter for politics. Maybe no one else may think of it in the same way that I do, but at the end of the day, I feel in some small way, directly or indirectly, I have made use of my skills to help the decision makers change the lives of thousands of individuals, and eventually their families as well.   It was an honor to meet Mr. Gomes, and I hope to have other opportunities to help him keep Brazilian education as a top priority of the government.