06 Oct Introduction to Me!

Hello Everyone!

My name is Nick Pontejos, and I am part of the USFS Resource Assistant Program partnered through EFTA.

I recently graduated from Colorado State University with my degree in Mathematics and minors in Economics and Business administration. I didn’t have any prior professional experience, thanks to the pandemic, so I was very excited when I came across this opportunity with EFTA. I am working for the Budget department of the Washington Office of the US Forest Service, and I am very ready to learn as much as I am able about the processes behind how organizational money is planned for and actually enacted.

It has only been two weeks since I joined on as a Resource Assistant, but I can already tell that this is an interesting time to come in as an intern. The USFS has recently started taking measures to modernize the way that they do budget, and I get a front row seat to all the changes that are taking place. While it is a lot to take on all at once, I hope to come out of this internship with a stronger understanding of the issues we come across.

While I don’t know exactly what I want to end up doing with my career, I like the idea of working with the federal government and working with finance and data. This position is a great way to get experience related to my professional interests, and I hope down the road I can take on more “data sciency” opportunities.

Attached to this post are a couple images of my work from home setup. While I was originally scheduled to be in person in D.C, the Delta Variant of COVID has delayed that transition. Despite this, I am still very excited about the desk setup that I have created, as I have always wanted a nice computer and finally bought one for myself as a graduation gift to myself. I have also been able to dock my work computer to this setup. I can use both screens for my work computer during the day and when I shut my work computer down, the larger tower is also connected to both screens for personal use.