Meet Jesus Villela Lopez, a recent Guadalupe Centers High School graduate who turned a short two-month internship into an extended, year-long opportunity.
As graduation approached, Jesus explored several opportunities. Since his start at the Guadalupe Centers Middle School, Jesus saw just how much the staff cared about the students and knew this would be a great place to grow and learn more about marketing. Trusting his instincts, he asked one of his teachers if there might be an internship available with the charter schools. That simple question set off a chain reaction of connections, opening the door to an invaluable experience. The connection led to the start of his internship with the Guadalupe Centers Charter Schools (GCCS).
Jesus has always been drawn to marketing. His interest began when former teacher Ms. Hellhake assigned him a marketing project—a fundraiser to support the school yearbook. That project sparked a passion that led him to seek out real-world experience.
Over the summer, Jesus interned with both Guadalupe Centers (GCI) and the charter schools, supporting the Director of Communications at GCCS and the marketing team at GCI. His responsibilities included creating social media content—flyers, reels, and static posts—while also learning the analytical side of marketing, such as gathering platform insights.
One project he is especially proud of is producing Instagram reels. “You can really show the community what you want them to see and how impactful it is to show the roots of GCI,” he shared. Editing is one of his favorite parts, bringing clips together, experimenting with pacing, and shaping a story. Already familiar with content creation through his own TikTok and Instagram accounts, Jesus drew inspiration from those platforms to enhance his work.
Beyond technical work, the internship strengthened his problem-solving skills, time management, professionalism, and understanding of public relations.
“I do love what I do in the social media world. I can imagine the good I can do, helping a nonprofit with its engagement from the community and the audience we’re trying to connect with.”
From the start of his internship, the GCCS staff saw the potential that Jesus brought, and we’re impressed with his skill set. Just within the first few weeks of working with the team, they saw an improvement on their social media platforms. “Throughout the summer, his work ethic and commitment to his projects really went above and beyond an internship,” said Sammi Novak, Director of Communications at GCCS. “With the school year approaching, and knowing that the work would shift, we wanted to provide Jesus with the opportunity to see school in action, and how marketing and communications change with the shift. On top of it all, Jesus had great ideas that we thought would transfer over well into the school year.”
Today, Jesus has transitioned from summer intern to an extended internship spanning the rest of the school year, really taking ownership of social media management for the charter schools. His journey is just beginning, though, as he plans to attend Johnson County Community College in 2026 to study marketing. We are happy to have him on our team and can’t wait to see what the future holds!
