The562.org’s internship program continues to expand each year. After welcoming 11 high school student-interns last year, the company is bringing on our biggest class ever with 12 high school student-interns for the 2024-25 school year.
In April 2024, the LBUSD Board of Education unanimously approved a five-year contract with The 562 to strengthen and extend our paid high school internship program.
“Tyler [Hendrickson] did a great job creating this partnership with the district,” The562.org co-founder Mike Guardabascio said. “I just want to thank him, Long Beach Unified and all of our donors for all of the support they’ve given to our program.”
Over the last three years since its start in the 2021-22 school year, our internship program has had 27 student journalists go on to be admitted into journalism programs at elite universities such as Northwestern, USC, Maryland, Cal, Arizona, Pepperdine and Long Beach State.
Our internship program allows high school students to explore the different areas of our company including photography, videography, writing and social media. These overlapping avenues of journalism allow our interns to try new things and grow their existing skills while covering the unique world of Long Beach sports.
Along with the support from the school district, the internship program is made possible thanks to our internship program sponsors, including the Hoy Family and Elgato.
The 12 interns for the 2024-25 school year are: Eddie Becker, Jorany Chim, Emma Chun, Bella Emery, Flor Garibay, Ki’ele Ho-Ching, Kayla Jackson, Zadie Kuykendall, Victor Lao, Ben Montooth, Lilly Otero, and Avery Peck.
We have brought multiple former interns onto our staff including Nina Fife and Eli Aquino, both part of the inaugural intern class, who now work as assistant editors. We also recently hired Rasheed Riveroll Castillo, an intern in 2023-24, as one of our talented photographers. We continue to work with many of our former interns as freelancers throughout the year, as well.
“We are so proud of how much this program has grown over the years since it started,” Guardabascio said. “Seeing our kids grow as interns and then go on to achieve amazing things after high school is just a reflection of the hard work they put in.”
We always need support as our internship program continues to grow. If you’re interested in sponsoring one of this year’s interns to help offset the cost of equipment and training, please reach out to Tyler Hendrickson at tyler@the562.org.
