SPEL storytellers start fall 2023 session
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From Washington, D.C. to California, nearly two dozen interns and fellows — returning and new — have kicked off our 2023 SPEL fall semester!
Nonprofit Administration Intern
“One of the great things about my current role is the fact that it totally ties in with what I want to do in the future,” says Jeffrey Fernandez, Hola Cultura’s fall nonprofit administration intern, who is studying business administration and wants to go into management consulting.
Jeffrey, who helps facilitate the weekly online meetings, is one of nearly two dozen interns in the fall SPEL program that began Sept. 19. SPEL, or Storytelling Program for Experiential Learning, brings together high school and college students and young adults from D.C. and around the country to gain experience in journalism, communication and networking and foster leadership, critical thinking and many more professional skills.
SPEL meets every Tuesday for training sessions, to hear from guest speakers from various fields and for story lab sessions, where we meet and actively collaborate with our team members. This fall’s story groups include editorial, social media and copy editing interns working together in three teams. The themes we focus on include arts and humanities, showcasing the latest achievements by local Latinx artists, performers, and writers, as well as environmental justice, mental health, the Afro-Latino experience and the immigrant experience.
Editorial Intern, Society & Culture Team
Natalia Chairez, an editorial intern from California who is new to the Society and Culture team this fall, says she applied to Hola Cultura because she wanted to intern with an organization that she could be proud to work for.
“The whole message behind what they do and giving voices to Latin culture” and Latino voices is what drew her to the organization, says Natalia, a senior at California State University, Long Beach. In the future, she hopes to write for a big magazine, such as Rolling Stone, Vogue or Vanity Fair. As an intern at Hola Cultura this semester, she’s set out to hone her work ethic and become a better journalist and writer. She is excited at the prospect of having her work published for the first time.
Jeffrey, who is a 21-year-old D.C. resident attending American University in the District’s upper Northwest, says he is also drawn to our mission of celebrating the community and its contributions to society.
“Well, the thing about SPEL that really matches my personality is that I’m Latino … and Latinos are underrepresented,” Jeffrey says.
Editorial Intern, Arts & Humanities Team
Estrellita Soto, a high school senior attending D.C.’s Capitol City Public Charter School, is a returning member of SPEL’s Arts and Humanities team. She loves literature but plans to major in chemical or aerospace engineering when she goes to college, perhaps with a minor in English. She says a big reason she returned to Hola Cultura was the “connection I made with the artists I interviewed” earlier this year when she was on the spring semester’s Arts and Humanities team.
“I didn’t expect to like interviewing artists that much because I’m not really one to put myself out there. I took a chance to do this program,” says Estrellita, who hopes to apply the skills she learns here to college essays and interviews she will be embarking on soon.
Hola Cultura is so excited for this semester of SPEL and cannot wait to see the great work and improvement of our interns. We aim to serve as a bridge between Latinx and non-Latinx communities through stories, art and sharing culture.
– Crystal Lee
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