X3 NeXt intern, Bernie Aguilar, is committed to becoming the person she wants to be. No matter what obstacles might get in her way, she is a person who works hard, stays positive, and helps others. 

“You can’t let anybody tell you who you are and who you're going to be,” says Aguilar. “You are the one that decides that, nobody else.” 

The X3 internship program provides a transformative opportunity for professional and personal growth, especially for students like eighteen-year-old Aguilar, who is the first in her family to graduate high school and attend college. Since being encouraged to apply by a professor at Northern New Mexico College, Aguilar has completed an internship at the National Latino Behavioral Health Association and is in her second internship with Inside Out Recovery. 

Inside Out Recovery, a nonprofit agency in Española, New Mexico, offers a wide array of free services focused on opiate addiction and recovery within the northern New Mexico community. In addition to providing substance abuse support, which includes trauma-informed training and peer support, they also do community outreach, providing essential services such as nutritious meals, a clothing bank, and job development assistance to people. 

Aguilar’s shifts usually involve working at the front desk, answering phones, filing things, scheduling appointments, or sorting through clothes for the clothing bank. Her placement at Inside Out has felt personal to her as someone who comes from a family with a history of addiction. 

“One of my goals here is to figure out a way for our youth to not go down the same path as our parents,” explains Aguilar. “Both my parents are addicts, both my oldest siblings are addicts, and I chose to close that door and open my own.”

Despite struggling with secure housing and both financial and health-related setbacks, Aguilar remains extremely positive about her future. Her experience at Inside Out has led her to shift her educational focus away from nursing and toward social work,  opening her eyes to ways of helping people outside of a medical profession. 

“I honestly think this is the greatest program,” says Aguilar. “It gives you real-life experiences, real work experiences, and support from people who care.” 

These  internships have also meant that Aguilar doesn’t have to work in retail or fast food—jobs she was working before that didn’t work around her schedule and didn’t have anything to do with her goal of helping others. 

Aguilar was still in high school when she got her first placement, and says she was initially nervous to apply—but the allure of being able to do something that would help others while earning money was too great. 

"Take the opportunity to step out of your comfort zone and do something better with your life,” she says now, to other students who might feel intimidated by applying to an internship. 

Future Focused’s X3 and X3 NeXt are innovative work-based learning programs designed to build local talent in New Mexico by offering paid internships to high schoolers, early college students, and early career professionals. Key benefits of the X3 program include providing real-world learning by embedding young people with employers, promoting financial equity through stipends rather than minimum wage, and fostering social capital through professional mentorship, especially for historically underserved youth.

 X3 internships are for students who are still in high school, while X3 NeXt offers young people the opportunity to continue as interns throughout college and into their careers. While more internship opportunities are available in concentrated areas, like Albuquerque and Santa Fe, Future Focused is committed to expanding opportunities across the state. For students like Aguilar in less populated parts of the state, partnerships like those Future Focused is building in Española and northern New Mexico are gaining ground. 

The X3 program in Northern New Mexico is co-managed by Future Focused’s Kaitlin Sopoci-Belkap and Celina Lindgren. Sopoci-Belkap, an X3 coach before managing the program, worked with Aguilar, offering support and coaching as Aguilar navigated changes. Aguilar says Sopoci-Belknap’s help with scheduling meant that she could work around school and life events rather than risk losing her job because of things out of her control, like family illnesses or losing housing. Her relationship with Sopoci-Belkap has been important in deeper ways as well. 

“Kaitlin helped me apply to college,” Aguilar explains, “and she’s supported me emotionally.” 

It takes a whole host of committed people and organizations to provide these types of opportunities for students. In addition to dozens of employee partners who host interns, Future Focused has teamed up with the San Ildefonso Pueblo, the Anchorum Foundation, the LANL Foundation, and the Northern New Mexico College (NNMC) Career Center to fund and run X3 internship programming in northern New Mexico. 

The NNMC Career Center is a resource hub for students at Northern New Mexico College. They help students explore career opportunities by connecting them with opportunities like resume writing help as well as internships, apprenticeships, and job opportunities. Their partnership with Future Focused has opened doors to work with more interns and employers. The Center’s STEM Career Coordinator, Ashley Duemmler, says working with Future Focused has helped the Center better structure their own internship program as well. 

“Future Focused has been evaluating their program through intern evaluations, and seeing that and learning how they do it has really helped us build in our internship program that we get through our own grants,” says Duemmler, who says she’s been impressed with the supportive community coming together for their youth. This is something Aguilar is also quick to point out. 

“I've had a lot of opportunities open up to me here in Española,” Aguilar explains. “I think that's the most important part about Española—we might not have a lot, but we have people who are willing to help you.”

All students in X3 internships have a Future Focused intern coach as well as a mentor who works alongside them at their internship placement. Aguilar says both people have been instrumental in providing her with support. Aguilar’s mentor, Dynette Martinez, has supported Aguilar in her position at Inside Out, but has also mentored and supporter her beyond the workplace. 

“Me and my mentor,  we have a great bond. She's always there for me, even if it's outside of work, I can call her and she'll help me.” 

Support and opportunity are crucial for all students, especially those with historically disadvantaged backgrounds.  New Mexico’s talented youth are ready to succeed, and programs like X3 and X3 NeXt are ready to help them on their way to achieving the lives and futures they want and need. 

“Many of our students who come from underserved areas lack access to professional networks, career guidance, and hands-on work experience. The internship opportunities provided by X3 FFE are helping them gain real-world skills and industry exposure and building their professional confidence,” says Sara McCormick, NNMC Career Services Specialist.

Aguilar’s story reflects what’s happening across New Mexico through programs like X3 and X3 NeXt, and it shows how important it is for these programs to continue to expand. With the right support, young people are not only building better lives and brighter futures for themselves but also strengthening the communities they call home. When local organizations, schools, and mentors come together to invest in students’ potential, the impact ripples far beyond one internship—it enables young people to be better leaders, change-makers, and neighbors. 

Aguilar wants other young people like her to keep working toward their goals. “As a teenager, life is hard,” she says, “but the number one thing to do is not give up.”