Lynn Zeheralis is a recent graduate of Butler University and former development intern at Make-a-Wish Foundation.
As a new college graduate currently going through the job search process, I am grateful for the experiences and skills I gained through Butler’s internship program. Oftentimes, you gain more than just skills to put on a resume, and those turn out to be things you value most.
In March of my junior year, I was extended an offer to serve as the Development Intern for the Make-A-Wish Foundation in Indianapolis. I had no idea when accepting this internship that not only would I gain skills many future employers would find impressive, but I would also have to opportunity to directly impact the lives of kids and their families.
In the three months I spent working for Make-A-Wish, I became much more confident in the work I did and realized how much I have to contribute to other companies and organizations down the road.
Make-A-Wish provides an environment unlike any other I have seen. Not only did I have the support of my supervisor and the rest of the development department, but I also had the rest of the office behind me, constantly reassuring me of the value I brought to the organization. I was not treated simply as the intern, given tasks no one else wanted to do. I had duties just as vital to the success of the organization as the rest of the staff.
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In the three months I spent working for Make-A-Wish, I became much more confident in the work I did and realized how much I have to contribute to other companies and organizations down the road.
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During my internship, I helped the organization plan its yearly summer event – Walk for Wishes, spoke on behalf of Make-A-Wish to donors, gained necessary knowledge on daily office operations and even had the opportunity to help out on a couple of kids’ wishes. All of these experiences made for a difficult goodbye at the conclusion of my internship.
It was not until a couple months later that I realized how much of an impact I also had on the organization and the families I had met. In early October, I received a phone call from my now previous supervisor at Make-A-Wish telling me that at a presentation to a donor company, the mother of one of the kids we had helped on a wish brought me up by name in her portion of the presentation and said I specifically made the experience so memorable. This, by far, was the most rewarding part of my internship.
I am forever grateful to Make-A-Wish for giving me the opportunity to learn and grow so much in such a short time, and I encourage everyone to consider an internship in the non-profit area because it truly is a life-changing experience.
