SAN MARCOS ---- Cal State San Marcos junior James Nguyen has some big plans for the future and a recent fellowship award to a prestigious summer program at UC Berkeley will make his plans all the more attainable.

Nguyen, 20, was the first Cal State San Marcos student to receive a fellowship award to the Public Policy and International Affairs Junior Summer Institute program at Berkeley. The award also includes a minimum $5,000 scholarship for a public policy grad school program. The summer institute, which also takes place at University of Michigan, Carnegie Melon University and University of Maryland, teaches students about public policy, economics, policy analysis, quantitative analysis, communication and prepares them from post-graduate studies.

Nguyen travels to the Bay Area June 20 for the 7-week program.

In an interview last week, he said he is excited about the institute and thinks it will help prepare him for grad school.

"I think it will hone in on my skills and ability to understand public policy processes and how they affect people," Nguyen, an economics and political science major, said. "I am also looking forward to being exposed to broader perspectives because I will be with a national pool of students."

Over 200 college juniors applied for the program and Nguyen was one of 30 to be selected, said Talitha Green, director of the Public Policy and International Affairs Program at UC Berkeley. Green said participants were chosen based on their academic records, a letter of recommendation and their community service experience.

She said the program's goal is to prepare college juniors for a career in public policy.

"The mission of the PPIA program is to prepare undergraduate students for graduate studies in policy and international affairs with the hope that the participants then go on to work in the public sector, creating and evaluating policies that improve the public good," Green said.

Making a difference in the world is exactly what Nguyen has in mind. He wants to earn his master's degree in public policy while simultaneously attending law school. After he earns his law degree, he said he would like to go into government.

"I really enjoy working in public service," Nguyen said. "There is a lot of uncertainty about my career at this point, but my heart is in public service."

Nguyen has already racked up an impressive resume of internships and campus involvement. He interned for state assemblyman Lou Correa of the 69th district during the summer of 2002 in Santa Ana and, last summer, he worked as an intern in Washington D.C. with the White House Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

"It was an amazing experience," Nguyen said about the 10-week internship at the White House. "I have great respect for all the work people do that goes unnoticed. All the hard work and the process of the government is so intricate and so huge and we just don't see all the work they put into it."

Nguyen is also coordinating a community project in San Diego County that involves language rights and voting rights. As a child of Vietnamese refugees, Nguyen said he understands issues facing minorities.

"There are so many things I want to do and so many things that need to be done but I am only one person," Nguyen said. "I am really interested right now in language rights, education policy, civil rights and international economic development."

One of Nguyen's political science professors at Cal State San Marcos, Cynthia Chavez Metoyer, said that if anyone can accomplish their goals, it's Nguyen.

"James is a stellar student academically," Chavez Metoyer said.

"He is well disciplined and organized and the kind of student that goes beyond the minimum expectations and tries to dig deeper. He has a hunger for learning."