Interning at Make-A-Wish is an invaluable experience whose impact is hard to put into words. It's an experience where I not only gained professionalism and communication skills, but also walked away with the knowledge that the sole purpose of my job was to make kids happy.
The internship started and I immediately jumped into the day to day aspects of granting wishes. I called wish families, confirmed reservations, decorated bags for wish kids, went shopping for special gifts - whatever the wish needed, the interns helped to make it happen. I worked hand-in-hand with the staff and each member treated me like an equal. It wasn't until I went on my first Wish Interview Party, though, that I realized how much this internship had come to mean to me.
I had only been with Make-A-Wish for about 3 weeks, when we went to San Antonio to interview approximately 20 wish kids. The first little girl I interviewed was Jenna, a 12 year old girl with primordial dwarfism. Shy at first, it took time to persuade her that I was a trustworthy friend to confide her wish to. By the end of our 40 minutes together, we discovered that Jenna's wish was to have a bedroom and bathroom in which she could reach everything, because she was so small. After saying goodbye to her family, I had to take a moment, because the experience had had such an effect on me. Here was this little girl who could wish to have anything in the world, and she just wanted to be able to reach the bathroom sink on her own.
It was after going to San Antonio and meeting Jenna that I knew that deciding to take this Make-A-Wish internship could not have been a better decision. To be able to go to work each day knowing that I would leave the office having helped a child in some way was worth the time and effort put into the internship. Going home after a day at the office, my friends always asked what I had done that day, because my stories were the most interesting. Everyone was intrigued to know what wishes were being granted that day.
Great feelings are basically what interning at Make-A-Wish is about. You'll meet great friends, work with great staff, and walk away knowing you helped make kid's wishes come true. I could not imagine a better internship.
-Meghan
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Internships fill up at least one semester in advance and are non-paying. Please contact us as soon as possible. For information on internship opportunities at the Austin office, please contact Angie Castilleja, Director of Wish Granting Services, at acastilleja@centralandsouthtexas.wish.org, (512)329-9474 or (800)880-9474 toll-free.