Editor’s Note: This article has been translated into Spanish by El Eco Copy Editor Margarita Lievanos. You can find the Spanish version here.

Four California Lutheran University students are interning on the ABC television series “Grey’s Anatomy” this fall, marking the first partnership between the university and Shondaland, the show’s production company.

John Fitch, associate professor and chair of the Film and Television Department at Cal Lutheran, said he helped Cal Lutheran students Haley Barr, Kimberly Aguilar Diaz, Hadyn Hughes and Mark Arthur Cuevas acquire the internship through a connection at Shondaland.

“I have known Val Cheung, who is the senior vice president at Shondaland, for several years,” Fitch said. “I hadn’t reached out to her about internships until this year, because this year we had the opportunity to get some grant funding from a grant here at CLU.”

Fitch said he approached Cheung about using university grant funding to pay for students’ Shondaland internships. After Cheung checked with the company, Shondaland agreed to partner with Cal Lutheran. He said his students will benefit from the experience because of how much they devote themselves to learning the craft of film and television production.

“We’re really happy, and hopefully we can continue the partnership over the years,” Fitch said. “I’m thrilled because [Barr and Aguilar Diaz] are two of our strongest students who have worked so much — all of these four have. I felt like the production company had made the right decision.”

Barr, a senior majoring in film and television with a production emphasis, said four days after her interview she received an email offering her a fall 2025 production internship for season 22 of “Grey’s Anatomy.”

“I was walking down the hall with my roommates, and when I found out, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is the most insane opportunity,’ because I was really starting to give up because I needed an internship,” Barr said.

Barr said she initially struggled with finding a required internship for her major and had been applying since her freshman year.

“I never heard anything back. I emailed companies and those in charge, asking if they had any opportunities. I never heard anything back,” Barr said. “I just got denied, which is totally okay since some things are not meant to be, but it started to make me worried cause I am a senior now and I still don’t have anything.”

Barr said she has been working with Shondaland for several weeks and helps out in the production office with production assistants’ and production coordinators’ daily tasks, such as putting scripts together or posting signs around set so people know where to go.

“I am hoping that the connections I am making through this opportunity will help open doors and other opportunities in the future, whether that is next semester or after school,” Barr said. “I have never been a part of TV shows before. I only ever made short films or movies, so this is an incredible opportunity for me. I want to keep exploring [that] after school, and hopefully I can get there.”

Aguilar Diaz, a senior majoring in business marketing and film and television, was also selected to be a production intern for “Grey’s Anatomy.” She moved to Los Angeles to pursue her dream in the film industry.

She said landing a “big legacy show” internship was a huge deal to her as a child of immigrants. When she found out she got the internship, she was with her roommates and immediately told her mother.

“My mom was crying because she was, like, really proud of me. She was telling me her story where she was like, ‘I never thought the little girl selling tamales in El Salvador would give birth to a girl who is now working for a big show like that,’” Aguilar Diaz said.

Aguilar Diaz said she helped set up the 250th episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” and is rotating with other interns to different departments.

“That was super fun, we worked a lot with Excel, we worked a lot with spreadsheets, we ran around set a lot [and] we do basically anything that is needed.  This week, we started rotations. I am currently working with the costume department,” Aguilar Diaz said.

Aguilar Diaz said securing this internship “hit hard” and that it made her realize the significance of working on a show as big as “Grey’s Anatomy.”

“Starting off, I just want to break [into] the industry, get any jobs possible, whether that be [production assisting] or [personal] assisting,” Aguilar Diaz said. “I truly just want to learn and observe as much information as possible, cause that is how you are able to excel, by learning.”