Jesse Velasquez - Character of the Month

Jesse Velasquez

Jesse Velasquez arrives in the episode “Indian Summer” and the self confident Latino triple threat quickly tries to establish himself.  He believes in self promotion and in “Czech Mate” he is standing as the student president for the school and in “Spontaneous Combustion” he puts himself forward to represent the school in the National Arts Festival, when all the dancers refuse to take part as a protest against the no singing and dancing in the halls directive.

Jesse cocky and as well as performing,  he has a strong interest in women.  He also quickly establishes a connection with Nicole Chapman and they start a relationship.  It a little volatile at first and they constantly fight, break up then get back together.  After one such fight in “Nothing Personal” fate brings them back together via a personal ad in the school newspaper. 

However their bond is strong, with a mutual love and respect helping them support each other through difficult times. In “The First Time” after they have been together for 10 months Jesse feels it’s time to take their relationship further and have sex. They break up briefly and Jesse kisses Kate Riley but they are soon back together and Nicole agrees to Jesse request. They go off to a cabin in the woods for a romantic weekend but things don’t go to plan and they both end up with neck collars after suffering from whiplash. They then decide to wait a little longer before they have sex.

In “The Last Dance” their relationship is struggling. After another break up and reconciliation they realise that they love each other but want different things and decide to permanently split up.  Although a few months later when Nicole is killed in a drink drive accident, Jesse is heartbroken and seeks revenge on the driver of the car Mickey Garth.

After his relationship with Nicole ended, in “Mister Wacky’s World” Dusty Tyler reveals she has a crush on him. They go on a date and despite connecting over a shared love of science fiction, Jesse doesn’t feel the same as Dusty and doesn’t pursue the relationship.  

  

In “Dreams”, after Jesse gets a fine for dancing on the street his secret comes out that he is actually Mexican and not Puerto Rican and is in America illegally. In a desperate attempt to stay in the country he marries Doris Schwartz but that marriage is quickly annulled after the judge in his case doesn’t believe it. He says his goodbyes but at the last minute Nicole discovers a ruling about exceptional talent and Jesse has to perform for the judge who decides he can stay.

Jesse’s family was poor and his Grandfather taught him to play guitar and encouraged him to pursue his dreams and that is why he moved to America so he could learn and make his family and grandfather proud.

To honour his Grandfather in “Selling Out”, Jesse writes a song titled “The Other Side of The Road” which wins a song contest and the prize is to release the song and make a video. Jesse is excited and involves his friends from school in the production, however having signed over the rights to the song over to the production company Jesse is unhappy with the ideas they are coming up with and the changes they are making to the concept of the song. In the end he chooses integrity and gives up the prize to keep the real sentiment behind the song.

In “Savage Streets” a local gang try to enlist Jesse in joining them after his landlord/employer Friend, Hector is murdered.

Sometimes ambition gets the better of Jesse and in "Double Exposure", whilst competing with Danny for the lead role on a play on Jekyll ad Hyde he steals the answers to cheat a biology exam in order to keep up his grade average.

In “WSOA” Jesse is working as a DJ on the school’s radio station and fights to help save the life of a teenage girl who keeps calling in and is on the verge of suicide.   

In "The Crimson Blade" having played the titular character in a school show, everyone believes Jesse is behind  the masked vigilante who is then helping people at the school but it's not Jesse it turns out to be Miltie Horowitz. 

In “All Talking, All Singing, All Dancing” Jesse turns director and produces and award winning ambitious show for the school. In “Of Cabbages and Kings” he tries to donate his trophy for that show to the schools time capsule.

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