From Burley to the Big Apple

Alejandra Mojica has been working her entire life to get ahead in the classroom.

With the help of three summer internships ahead of her senior year at the University of Idaho, the senior finance and accounting major may soon be making waves in the boardroom as well.

Mojica returned this fall after spending summer 2019 at investment bank J.P. Morgan in New York City as an intern. Impressive on its own, it followed an internship with multinational corporation Johnson and Johnson in 2018.

And while the trading floor and capital management skills of the U of I Barker Trading Program helped prepare Mojica for her future jobs, seeking that opportunity was something she’d long been looking for.

“I grew up in Burley. Animals and field work were my childhood,” Mojica said. “Agriculture is backbreaking work, though, and like so many families doing seasonal work, our family lived paycheck-to-paycheck. My parents wanted more for me, and my mom saw education as the way to a better life.”

Mojica’s mom and dad migrated from Mexico to the United States in the 1990s. Her mom worked in sewing and manufacturing factories while her father labored in the fields and orchards of California. They eventually made their way to Idaho’s Magic Valley.

“The University of Idaho was very appealing — I could double major in both accounting and finance, and it was the most affordable,” she said.

With the discipline learned from a childhood in agriculture and encouragement from family, Mojica eventually saw college as a real option. Like many first-generation college students, though, neither she nor her family had any experience navigating the higher education pipeline.

That wasn’t a problem for Mojica.

“Alejandra is a tenacious self-starter beneath a calm disposition,” said Darek Nalle, director of the Barker Trading Program.

Mojica has taken on leadership positions in the Barker Trading Program and the Association of Latino Professionals For America, a student group, while studying in the College of Business and Economics.

My parents wanted more for me, and my mom saw education as the way to a better life. Alejandra Mojica

She will graduate in spring 2020 having funded two Bachelor of Science degrees with scholarships. Doing so provided the financial flexibility for Mojica to take advantage of the high-profile internships — and ignited a passion for her future. Mojica hopes to pursue a career helping minorities get better access to financial services and banking systems.

Article by Ross Wulf, College of Business and Economics.

Published in the Fall 2019 issue of Here We Have Idaho.