LaToya Joy Westbrooks carries around a one-page list of her short-term and long-term goals. It's in her datebook that includes phone numbers and status notes on job interviews. Appointments are circled, color-coded for quick study when her PDA doesn't provide enough detail.

"I'm a definite planner," Westbrooks said. What she's planning during her senior year is a future career in commercial real estate. If her past is any indication, Westbrook will accomplish what she sets out to do.

Determined to secure a financial internship in New York City last summer, Westbrooks began making plans before her previous summer internship was finished. She did her research. She made cold calls to financial firms. She contacted Florida State University alumni. She even checked on university housing in the city. Everywhere she turned she was told she was too early.

"I am a strong believer of speaking into existence," said Westbrooks, a Miami native. "If you really want something you have to believe it and most importantly believe in yourself. Everyday I would say, "I will be in New York this summer!"

Still, when leads and interviews didn't pan out over the school year, she made alternate plans for the summer: studying abroad in Spain for six weeks.

"On the day I was about to begin my 12-hour flight to Europe I received a phone call from Citigroup in New York," she said. After a rigorous phone interview, Westbrooks landed her dream internship, working in Citigroup's Global Wealth Management Division.

Two days after she left Spain in June, Westbrooks took another flight to New York for the last nine weeks of the summer. She lived in campus housing at New York University. She took the A train uptown to midtown Manhattan. She read the The Wall Street Journal on her daily commute.

"Nothing felt better than being in the hustle and bustle of New York City," Westbrooks said. "Being a summer intern, you always want to make an impression. You can do that by coming in earlier than what's expected and definitely leaving late. No intern should ever leave the job when the regular full-time employees are leaving."

Westbrooks worked more than 10 hours a day in the firm's Special Projects Unit. She managed a project to clean up global and domestic accounts, saving the company money by merging them or eliminating ones not being used for investment purposes.

The senior finance major said her internships have shaped her school and career direction. A summer stint at Liberty Mutual Insurance Company in Fort Lauderdale helped her decide to switch from risk management and insurance studies to finance. Her internship with Citigroup has confirmed that she wants to pursue commercial real estate instead of work at an investment firm. She already is working as a mortgage broker in Tallahassee.

Westbrooks encourages students, especially minorities, to seek out internships and opportunities to study abroad. She gained assistance from INROADS, an organization that helps talented minority youth interested in business prepare for corporate and community service.

"I was on a search to find what made me happy," Westbrooks said of the slate of internships she's already completed.

Westbrooks also stays involved outside the classroom. She participates in the Collage Dance Troupe and serves as a service council chair in the FSU Service Corps. She's building homes over the winter break in New Orleans.

"Joining an organization helps you to develop as a person and have meaningful friendships," she said.

The first in her family to attend college, Westbrooks benefited from FSU's Center for Academic Retention and Enhancement (CARE) Program that offers students educational workshops and pairs new students with mentors and counselors.

She also credits her mother's vision.

"She always motivated me to do my best," Westbrooks said. "She pushed me so much, to the point I now push myself."

A look at Westbrooks' list of goals for the semester provides the evidence: short term, land more interviews in New York City; long-term, close another mortgage deal.