Alumni Spotlight: Yaritza Finds Her Voice and Confidence Through An Internship

When Yaritza first heard about The Gray Matter Experience, she wasn’t sure what path she wanted to pursue. A junior at Epic Academy, she had always loved baking but hadn’t considered it for a career until her internship at Chicago French Press changed everything. Through her internship, she gained hands-on experience at a small business, where she learned about entrepreneurship, marketing, and operations. More importantly, it was a space where she was encouraged to step outside of her comfort zone.

Now a high school junior, Yaritza is thriving! She’s made the Dean’s List and is a proud member of her school’s softball team. Reflecting on her time with Gray Matter, she shared how the internship helped her come out of her shell. The experience pushed her to speak up, take initiative, and pursue opportunities that once felt out of reach. She credits Gray Matter with helping her build the confidence to lead, both in and outside of the classroom.

Can you share a little bit about yourself, your school, and what you’re passionate about?

Right now, I'm a Junior at Epic and I've been there for three years. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I was drawn to journalism since I was little, but then I saw that maybe it wasn't the best thing for me, so I developed a passion for baking over the years. Once I got placed with Chicago French Press (CFP) and found out that I could work in a commercial kitchen, it helped me realize that this is something I want to do. They gave me opportunities to work in there and see what a commercial kitchen looks like from the bakery side.

What inspired you to apply to The Gray Matter Experience? 

I heard about it from my Teacher at Epic last year. She encouraged us all to apply because it was honestly pretty good money for an internship that could benefit us in the future. I liked hearing everything about it and it seemed interesting.

What were your biggest goals or hopes when you first started the program? 

Honestly, I didn't have any goals or anything. I went in there with an open mind. I was pretty open to everything. They had things like entrepreneurship and at the time, I was kind of confused about the career path that I wanted to pursue. As a Junior, I felt like I had to start figuring those things out. I thought that this could give me an opportunity to try different career paths

Before you applied to Gray Matter, did you apply to any other programs or have you participated in similar programs?

I’ve done After School Matters twice, so I was kind of familiar with how things operated, but this was completely different. It was more personal! You get a more personal feeling with the community. Everyone's very friendly. They were open to giving you everything that you needed. If you need advice or help, they're right there to help you. With After School Matters, it's only 2-3 hours each day. I liked working at Gray Matter. It was a fun internship and it was something different.

My final project was about promoting my new product. I got into marketing strategies and things like that. It showed me that I was pretty good at getting people's attention, connecting with them, and creating things.  

Can you share a moment during the program that was especially meaningful to you? 

I live about 50 minutes away from the Gray Matter building and I was kind of scared because I had to take the train over there and 2 buses. I was nervous about doing all of that. I talked to Corinne about it and she helped me out and gave me other opportunities that I could swap out to still participate.  She also helped out with my commute by giving me bus passes and things like that. That comforted me and put me at ease

What part of the program has had the biggest impact on you? 

I was put in the entrepreneurship track and I got to work at  Chicago French Press(CFP). One day we would take notes on presentations, on another day we would work in the commercial kitchen, and on some days we would have mentor talks.

I liked one of my mentors. She did a little bit of everything and also enjoys baking. I think she creates cards at CFP and sells them, which is cool. It was nice being able to talk to someone who could give me peace of mind, and I felt like we built a real relationship. She invited me to reach out if I ever had questions about anything, and that meant a lot. It was really special to be in a space where you could have heart-to-heart conversations and talk seriously about your goals, especially with people who’ve been in similar situations.

How has Gray Matter helped you grow?

I think it's honestly helping me to grow because when I first started, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I knew that I had a hobby for baking and now at school, it has pushed me to bake and sell. My final project was about promoting my new product. I got into marketing strategies and things like that. That also showed me that I was pretty good at getting people's attention, connecting with them, and creating things. It made me want to go into something marketing-related because it was fun being able to look everything up and doing market research.

Are there any skills or lessons you learned during the program that you are currently using?

They had us do little mini assignments and a lot of things that I had done there, I was already doing in school, because I have a class [that] is focused on college entrepreneurship. Things like writing a personal summary, getting a letter of recommendation and things like that helped show me what I'm supposed to do and how I'm supposed to construct a professional email. When I'm at school and I'm supposed to be learning these things, I kind of already know what I'm doing. That's been helping me lately with colleges and internships.

What is something about the program that you would like other young people to know? 

Honestly, I feel like it puts something in you. For me, it was that I felt like a grown-up. I had my backpack, my lunch, and my water. I had a certain time to be out of the house. I was going to work and having a job, you know, doing something fun, and you still get out at a reasonable time.

I did have to take a long commute to get there, but besides that, when I would meet my friends over there, I'd already be right there. I had time to go be with my friends and still have a fun summer. Since I got out of work so early, you kind of get the best of both worlds: having an actual job and putting in work, but you can also still have time for yourself.

Do you feel like Gray Matter helps you get past that point of being nervous about launching your ideas? 

I feel like it pushed me out of my shell a lot more. I'm a little bit more confident in what I do because I know other people like it and if they didn't like it, I don't think I would have a whole menu item. I wouldn't have this presentation that got my drink out there. I wouldn't have done so well and in my letter of recommendation, Corinne and Arika wrote about how I did a good job on it. I feel that kind of showed me I can do this. I can be more confident and assertive in myself.

What's next? How do you plan to use what you learned in a Gray Matter in your future? 

Honestly, I feel like I've used that letter of recommendation a couple of times already to do certain things. I submitted it for my National Honor Society. I think it was a part of my Dean listing, so I've used it a couple of times and I'm planning on continuing to use it because it's a good letter of recommendation. It touched on a lot of things I feel like teachers are looking forward to. 

I want to go back to Gray Matter for the entrepreneurship track, but I'm deciding. I'm trying to pick out my plans for the summer because it pushed me to want to do more internships and get more experience. I know colleges love extracurriculars and I feel like if I do something that's more all-around that it'll be beneficial for me in the future 

Right now, I'm on the Dean’s list. It's been keeping me very motivated and on track for school because if you have a 3.5 and you have a certain list of requirements to meet.  You can’t have any detentions or behavioral issues, 3.5 GPA and 95% attendance for the whole year. It keeps me accountable, going to school to put my work in and all these things. I love being on this list and I get my perks too. I don’t have to wear a uniform sometimes, so it helps me. I am also on the softball team. 

If you could give any advice to a future GME Changer, what would it be? 

Try to be more social, make connections with people and network. Work on your network, I feel like Gray Matter is a perfect place to make connections. Now I feel like if I need help on an internship, I can reach out to Corinne or Tobi because they both worked with me in different areas. As well as Arika. I feel like I could reach out to them if I need to. 

Also, I feel like you should have fun with it. You're downtown in the middle of summer. It's so much fun! There are so many little pop-up shops open down there once you're out of work. You're out at 1 pm. You have time to walk around and enjoy the city without any pressure. You don't have school, you can kind of walk around and enjoy the nice weather for a little bit. 

Internships empower young adults like Yaritza to explore their interests, develop skills, gain real-world insights and build valuable connections in their desired fields. They also open students' eyes to opportunities that they had not imagined for themselves.

Learn more about these opportunities available to youth through our ACCELERATE Program and how you can support youth internships: https://www.graymatterexperience.com/accelerate