The critical role that Gabriela (Hernandez) Pandya ’20G and her fellow special agents play in protecting Americans overseas was clear when a rare active shooter attack occurred in Auckland, New Zealand, hours before the opening game of the Women’s World Cup 2023 there.

Embedded with the U.S. women’s soccer team as a liaison with the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, the 28-year-old Pandya was walking to their hotel one morning when she encountered heavily armed law enforcement officers clearing a high-rise building under construction. She saw a helicopter overhead and heard gunfire. She immediately reported the danger to fellow agents and the U.S. consulate and recommended the soccer team shelter in place at the hotel.

“That’s one example of why we’re here,” she said in a phone interview from Auckland, New Zealand, a week after the incident. “A lot of the job is passing information back and forth between the team security, law enforcement, FIFA security, venue security, and the host nation’s government. It helps to have people like us from Diplomatic Security Service to try to connect all of that information and get it where it needs to go.”

Becoming a special agent

Pandya’s journey to becoming a special agent began with a bachelor’s degree in international relations, including three semesters studying abroad, “which really got me interested in going into a line of work with people from different cultures — and getting to travel,” she says. A classmate’s internship at the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi introduced her to working for the U.S. State Department, and a career fair brochure planted the seed for becoming a special agent, a sworn federal law enforcement officer.

She needed an interim plan. “The process takes a very long time,” she says. “And it’s not a sure thing that you’ll get in.”

Scholarship funded her Nazareth degree

She worked as a substitute teacher at School 9 in the Rochester City School District. To gain skills, she earned a master’s degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages at Nazareth University — which she said was only possible thanks to financial support from a Teacher Opportunity Corps (TOC) scholarship.

“One of the biggest focuses that I learned from the teaching program at Nazareth is the understanding that people learn in different ways,” she says. “That’s something I try to remember in my work as a special agent.”

Other crossovers: Teaching English and diplomatic work both require being able to work with people from different cultures, she points out. She anticipates future opportunities where she can teach during her career.

Her path and combination of skills have precedent. On one security detail for the U.S. secretary of state, she met another special agent — Ryan Shales ’15 — who is both a Nazareth alumnus and previously worked as a Rochester teacher.

Based out of the Washington, D.C., field office, so far Pandya has worked on passport and visa fraud investigations and provided protection in Mexico, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. In 2022, she was the lead advance agent managing the planning for protection operations at the international Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix competition.

Expanding diversity

Pandya is also part of an affinity group called the Hispanic and Latin Employee Council of Foreign Affairs Agencies and enjoys helping recruit people from diverse backgrounds to work for the Department of State. “One of the great things about the Department of State right now is there’s a focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, and that’s important to me, especially as someone who comes from a diverse background,” says Pandya, who is Puerto Rican. She had the idea of connecting with middle school and high school public safety cadets in Fairfax County, Virginia, so they’d be aware of State Department careers — a partnership that is developing.

By combining her education and her interests, Pandya is having an impact, both in the United States and overseas.