{"id":22925,"date":"2018-02-15T15:29:16","date_gmt":"2018-02-15T20:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciencescosmaincms.cm.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=22925"},"modified":"2019-05-02T11:39:30","modified_gmt":"2019-05-02T15:39:30","slug":"ucf-alumnus-represents-home-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-alumnus-represents-home-country\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Alumnus Represents Home Country"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Luis Aparicio (left) with Rep. Pete Sessions (right)<\/p><\/div>\n

Thirty years before he became the Counselor for Political Affairs at the Embassy of El Salvador in Washington D.C., Luis Aparicio was an international student waiting to graduate from high school. His biggest dream was to attend college in the United States and study journalism.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember I requested over a dozen catalogs from U.S. higher-education institutions,\u201d Aparicio said. \u201cThe programs were all exciting, fulfilling and overpassing my expectations. The only problem was that my family could not afford it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aparicio refused to allow money to become a roadblock on the path to his education, and never stopped dreaming of an American education.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy life\u2019s circumstances, I was able to make my way through the U.S. academic system years later,\u201d Aparicio said. \u201cMy cousins from Central America were already attending UCF, so I moved to Central Florida to attend college.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aparicio ran for a student government position at Valencia College. He got the job, and it helped pay for half of his tuition at the school. He later transferred to UCF to complete his degree in journalism. He says it was the time he spent on campus that ultimately helped him determine his future.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy UCF experience established the main foundation of my career development,\u201d he said. \u201cNot only did key classes at UCF give me the basis for my career in media and institutional communication for non-profit organizations, it also ignited my motivation for political affairs and international development.\u201d<\/p>\n

Remembering his time as a student government member at Valencia, Aparicio knew he was looking for another opportunity to help shape lives. He became the president of the Inter-American Students Association (IASA), which offered him opportunities to expand into a political landscape.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat position gave me the opportunity to attend a general assembly model session Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington, DC to represent a Central American country,\u201d he said. \u201cIt proved to me to be a life-changing experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Aparicio with colleagues in the OAS building<\/p><\/div>\n

As the president of the club, he also had the opportunity to host invited politicians and lecturers on the UCF campus, while working with his mentor, professor Emerita Waltraud Queiser-Morales, Ph.D., of the Political Science department. Aparicio even had the opportunity to welcome Michael Manley, the former Prime Minister of Jamaica, to UCF.<\/p>\n

Since then, Aparicio has seized every opportunity to help the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cProfit and self-gain have not been my highest priority,\u201d he said. \u201cThe jobs I had had since I left UCF have been, one way or the other, oriented to serve people.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is certainly true of his current job as the Counselor for Political Affairs at the Embassy of El Salvador.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe foreign policy of the Salvadoran government has, among its highest priorities, the protection of our nationals living abroad, out of which 90 percent lives in the US,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Protecting those people is one of his greatest concerns. To do so, Aparicio monitors current immigration laws, issues with foreign assistance and other, regional security programs. He then follows up with Congress, assisting the Ambassador, to make sure El Salvador is properly represented in the United States.<\/p>\n

He has been assisting the relations between El Salvador and the United States government since 1999, something he would not have imagined himself doing when he was a UCF student 30 years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThirty years ago, who would have told me that I would be participating in Washington during the intense sessions between the United States and Latin American colleagues discussing issues of regional security, advancement of regional democracy, narco-trafficking and the highly complicated matters on immigration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While in Washington, Aparicio also stays connected with the UCF community.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlong with the College of Sciences, I had the opportunity to help organize an exchange of embassies in Washington, DC with UCF representatives that presented the doctoral program in security studies, the new Center for Intelligence and Security and innovative doctoral and master programs being offered at UCF,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted to be involved in the surge of exponential growth and innovativeness of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aparicio hopes others will take the time to help foster the UCF alumni community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin our busy schedules, it is very gratifying to devote time to help those recently graduated UCF Knights,\u201d he said. \u201cWe must always remember that someone invested time to help us get to where we are now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thirty years before he became the Counselor for Political Affairs at the Embassy of El Salvador in Washington D.C., Luis Aparicio was an international student waiting to graduate from high school. His biggest dream was to attend college in the United States and study journalism. \u201cI remember I requested over a dozen catalogs from U.S. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":22935,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5962,31,20,38,13,37,16,28,29],"tags":[5470,5463,5460,5461,5466,5469,5465,1871,5462,5467,2567,5468,5464,3457,3780,3826],"class_list":["post-22925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-science-alumni","category-alumni-news","category-psaclassnotes","category-breaking-news","category-news","category-communication","category-political-science-departments","category-top-news","category-ucf-news","tag-center-for-intelligence-and-security","tag-central-america","tag-counselor-for-political-affairs","tag-embassy-of-el-salvador","tag-emerita-waltraud-queiser-morales","tag-immigration","tag-inter-american-students-association","tag-journalism","tag-luis-aparicio","tag-michael-manley","tag-organization-of-american-states","tag-prime-minister-of-jamaica","tag-student-government","tag-ucf","tag-valencia-college","tag-washington-d-c"],"yoast_head":"\nUCF Alumnus Represents Home Country - College of Sciences News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-alumnus-represents-home-country\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UCF Alumnus Represents Home Country - College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thirty years before he became the Counselor for Political Affairs at the Embassy of El Salvador in Washington D.C., Luis Aparicio was an international student waiting to graduate from high school. His biggest dream was to attend college in the United States and study journalism. \u201cI remember I requested over a dozen catalogs from U.S. […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-alumnus-represents-home-country\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-02-15T20:29:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-05-02T15:39:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2018\/02\/headshot-needs-rotating.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1442\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jessica Cherinka\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jessica Cherinka\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-alumnus-represents-home-country\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-alumnus-represents-home-country\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jessica Cherinka\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/edd9f909f716292b37bbecdf32e665c8\"},\"headline\":\"UCF Alumnus Represents Home Country\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-02-15T20:29:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-05-02T15:39:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-alumnus-represents-home-country\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":755,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-alumnus-represents-home-country\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2018\\\/02\\\/headshot-needs-rotating.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Center for Intelligence and Security\",\"Central America\",\"Counselor for Political Affairs\",\"Embassy of El Salvador\",\"Emerita Waltraud Queiser-Morales\",\"immigration\",\"Inter-American Students Association\",\"journalism\",\"Luis Aparicio\",\"Michael Manley\",\"Organization of American States\",\"Prime Minister of Jamaica\",\"student government\",\"UCF\",\"Valencia College\",\"Washington D.C.\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Alumni - School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs\",\"Alumni News\",\"Alumni News - School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs\",\"COS News\",\"News\",\"Nicholson School of Communication and Media\",\"School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs\",\"Top News\",\"UCF News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-alumnus-represents-home-country\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-alumnus-represents-home-country\\\/\",\"name\":\"UCF Alumnus Represents Home Country - College of Sciences News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-alumnus-represents-home-country\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-alumnus-represents-home-country\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2018\\\/02\\\/headshot-needs-rotating.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-02-15T20:29:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-05-02T15:39:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/edd9f909f716292b37bbecdf32e665c8\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-alumnus-represents-home-country\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-alumnus-represents-home-country\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2018\\\/02\\\/headshot-needs-rotating.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2018\\\/02\\\/headshot-needs-rotating.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1442,\"caption\":\"A man in a suit taking a selfie in front of the Aparicio permanent mission to the OAS sign and Salvadoran flag.\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"College of Sciences News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/edd9f909f716292b37bbecdf32e665c8\",\"name\":\"Jessica Cherinka\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4fe75a447b232e159f32778b41eb14ef90f371a2dc1e947731cecdc966bb7c71?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4fe75a447b232e159f32778b41eb14ef90f371a2dc1e947731cecdc966bb7c71?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4fe75a447b232e159f32778b41eb14ef90f371a2dc1e947731cecdc966bb7c71?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jessica Cherinka\"},\"url\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UCF Alumnus Represents Home Country - College of Sciences News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-alumnus-represents-home-country\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UCF Alumnus Represents Home Country - College of Sciences News","og_description":"Thirty years before he became the Counselor for Political Affairs at the Embassy of El Salvador in Washington D.C., Luis Aparicio was an international student waiting to graduate from high school. His biggest dream was to attend college in the United States and study journalism. \u201cI remember I requested over a dozen catalogs from U.S. […]","og_url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-alumnus-represents-home-country\/","og_site_name":"College of Sciences News","article_published_time":"2018-02-15T20:29:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-05-02T15:39:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1442,"url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2018\/02\/headshot-needs-rotating.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jessica Cherinka","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jessica Cherinka","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-alumnus-represents-home-country\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-alumnus-represents-home-country\/"},"author":{"name":"Jessica Cherinka","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/edd9f909f716292b37bbecdf32e665c8"},"headline":"UCF Alumnus Represents Home Country","datePublished":"2018-02-15T20:29:16+00:00","dateModified":"2019-05-02T15:39:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-alumnus-represents-home-country\/"},"wordCount":755,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-alumnus-represents-home-country\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2018\/02\/headshot-needs-rotating.jpg","keywords":["Center for Intelligence and Security","Central America","Counselor for Political Affairs","Embassy of El Salvador","Emerita Waltraud Queiser-Morales","immigration","Inter-American Students Association","journalism","Luis Aparicio","Michael Manley","Organization of American States","Prime Minister of Jamaica","student government","UCF","Valencia College","Washington D.C."],"articleSection":["Alumni - School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs","Alumni News","Alumni News - School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs","COS News","News","Nicholson School of Communication and Media","School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs","Top News","UCF News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-alumnus-represents-home-country\/","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-alumnus-represents-home-country\/","name":"UCF Alumnus Represents Home Country - College of Sciences News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-alumnus-represents-home-country\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-alumnus-represents-home-country\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2018\/02\/headshot-needs-rotating.jpg","datePublished":"2018-02-15T20:29:16+00:00","dateModified":"2019-05-02T15:39:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/edd9f909f716292b37bbecdf32e665c8"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-alumnus-represents-home-country\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-alumnus-represents-home-country\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2018\/02\/headshot-needs-rotating.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2018\/02\/headshot-needs-rotating.jpg","width":1920,"height":1442,"caption":"A man in a suit taking a selfie in front of the Aparicio permanent mission to the OAS sign and Salvadoran flag."},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/","name":"College of Sciences News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/edd9f909f716292b37bbecdf32e665c8","name":"Jessica Cherinka","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4fe75a447b232e159f32778b41eb14ef90f371a2dc1e947731cecdc966bb7c71?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4fe75a447b232e159f32778b41eb14ef90f371a2dc1e947731cecdc966bb7c71?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4fe75a447b232e159f32778b41eb14ef90f371a2dc1e947731cecdc966bb7c71?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jessica Cherinka"},"url":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}