Smith: Montgomery High School grad headed to D.C. for prestigious internship

Only one student from Sacramento State University will go to Capitol Hill for 11 weeks this fall to work and learn in Congress.

He is Adali Hernandez, 21 and a Montgomery High alum whose eagerness to contribute and achieve flows largely from his gratitude for his parents .

“I want not to be average, but to be something great in life,” the Sonoma County native said. “Life is so short that you have the responsibility to do something meaningful.”

He sees his winning a Panetta Institute Congressional Internship as a tribute to his folks, Lorenzo and Olivia, who long ago came to the U.S. from Mexico without documents, worked and earned legal residency.

Hernandez said that as he and his three younger brothers grew up in Sonoma County, they learned from their parents the value of education, perseverance and concern for others.

“I want to do something for them,” he said.

Months ago, he applied to the congressional internship created by former congressman, White House chief of staff, CIA director and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and his wife. Sylvia. It accepts one student from each of the California state universities and three private California schools.

Hernandez and the others will each work for a California member of Congress.

“I’m open to the challenge,” he said. He imagines the experience in D.C. will greatly boost his goal to go into public affairs and to contribute to the communication of important ideas and issues, perhaps for a federal lawmaker.

“More than anything, I want to motivate,” Hernandez said.

He hopes also to save money and create some sort of initiative of his own. He can’t yet say what it might involve, but he’s certain it will strive to inspire people to constructive action, and it will honor his parents.

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SHOWTIME: The Kevin Costner film “McFarland, USA” is producing episodes of generosity from people who believe teens really should see it.

In Cloverdale, an anonymous someone paid for every student at Washington Middle School to see the film at Clover Theater.

Then a second benefactor partnered with the theater’s owners to show “McFarland, USA” to the entire student body of Cloverdale High. Those screenings will happen Friday.

In Santa Rosa, someone moved by the movie purchased 50 tickets to the Roxy and delivered them to Elsie Allen High.

Costner plays a track coach who hires on at a predominantly Latino high school in the Central Valley and forges students into some kind of cross country team.

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IT’S ST. PATRICK’S DAY, and leprechauns will be ringin’ bells alongside green Salvation Army kettles at a number of stores in and near Santa Rosa.

I’ll be at the Oliver’s Market on Stony Point Road from 1 to 4 p.m. and would feel in the green were you to stop by.

Chris Smith is at 521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @CJSPD.