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Santa Barbara High School alum Jimena Meza Gonzales has been selected for the prestigious Television Academy Foundation Internship program. She is one of 40 students chosen by Television Academy members from across the country for the 2025 Summer program. The Foundation offers paid internships at top Hollywood studios and production companies annually to college students nationwide.
Gonzales, the first in her family to attend college, will be a junior this fall at California State University, Long Beach majoring in cinematic arts with a minor in Chicano and Latino studies. She will be interning this summer in the unscripted television development department at Endemol Shine North America in North Hollywood, California, as part of the Foundation’s “Getting Real: Unscripted” internship program.
The Getting Real: Unscripted internship program offers full-time opportunities in unscripted/reality television production for undergraduate and graduate students enrolled either full- or part-time at colleges and universities in Southern California and the Central Valley of California. These internships are designed for students dedicated to amplifying underrepresented voices and increasing diversity and inclusion within the industry. The program offers students in-depth exposure to professional television production during an eight-week, paid summer period.
“I am extremely grateful to be an intern with the Television Academy Foundation,” said Gonzales. “As a Latina it is extremely difficult to navigate the television industry. The Foundation has granted me the opportunity to develop my skills and learn from professionals in their fields.”
Gonzales is also a Point NBCU Scholar. She was awarded a scholarship through the Point Foundation in partnership with NBCUniversal, which provides scholarships and support to LGBTQ+ and allied college students, and she is an Equitable Excellence Scholar.
Originally from Santa Barbara, California, Gonzales attended Santa Barbara High School.
The Television Academy Foundation shapes the art of creating television by engaging and educating the next generation of television professionals, providing essential resources that help them discover their voices, refine their skills and forge rewarding careers in every sector of the television industry. The Internship program provides over 50 students from across the nation with hands-on work experience, mentorships and opportunities for accelerated career development in more than 30 disciplines annually.
About the Television Academy Foundation
Established in 1959 as the charitable arm of the Television Academy, the Television Academy Foundation is dedicated to preserving the legacy of television while educating and inspiring those who will shape its future. Through renowned educational and outreach programs, such as The Interviews: An Oral History of Television Project, Access: Behind the Screens, College Television Awards, Student Internship Program and the Media Educators Conference, the Foundation seeks to widen the circle of voices our industry represents and to create more opportunity for television to reflect all of society. For more information on the Foundation, please visit TelevisionAcademy.com/Foundation.
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