Lexsa Vélez Padín
University of Puerto Rico, Aguadilla campus student Lexsa Vélez Padín explains how her internship as a member of Conservation Opportunity (CO) helped her exceed her personal and professional goals.
Velez, who graduated in May 2021 from a bachelor's degree in Marketing with a minor concentration in Human Resources, says that in order to complete her studies, she needed to complete about 180 hours of internship. Then, approximately between February and March 2020, at the suggestion of her professor, she contacted Fabiola Torres, founder of CO, to discuss the possibility of collaboration between them.
At the time, CO was still in its infancy, Torres needed someone to set up a website to launch the organization more officially and Velez told him about taking a class in website creation.
“Although my concentration was in Marketing, I had to take two basic classes in Information Systems, which is like programming and they give a brief on how to make a web page. I told her about it and she got excited because it was what she needed,‘ said Velez.
She explains how in college, Information Systems was not her “forte” and that she had to take two double core courses because of how difficult it was for her. However, upon hearing that CO needed that, she set out to face the fear and accepted the “challenge”.
Lexsa planting in Rompeolas, Aguadilla
Velez explained how she felt her domain was creating business plans, managing social networks, among others, but did not see herself creating a website again after college.
“I learned so much, things that even in college I would never have learned in my life. Fabiola also gave me workshops by meeting with content creators, people who knew how to work with WordPress, which was the platform we specifically used. She gave me a lot of tools to learn because she always emphasized that she wanted me to learn,” Velez explains.
Even after the experience, she recounts how other students doing internships did not “like their experience, or did not learn or that they were basic things”, when she considered that she had “done everything”.
Velez Padin used to consider herself an “introvert” but feels that, having participated in CO, she now finds it easier to express herself and even her written communication skills have improved through writing social media posts and emails.
Another skill that she highlighted as “acquired” during the process and that she continues to use today, was organization. Among the tasks she had to complete in her time as part of the CO team, she had to schedule the publications for the social networks with descriptions of each part of them.
Likewise, she feels she has been able to accomplish a lot of networking through this internship experience and urges other college students or recent graduates to pursue one.
Lexsa (top left) with the Conservation Opportunity team.
“If you have the opportunity to work with a non-profit organization, whatever it is, do it, get involved. After you graduate, to avoid the ‘gap’ in your resume, invest it for yourself by working with a non-profit organization and it helps you a lot in personal and professional growth,” said Velez.
Finally, Vélez is currently working on a personal project to open his own small business of mantecados with liqueur. He is studying the procedures to found it and is considering perhaps taking a pastry course or two to complement his knowledge.