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Georgia College & State University

Reflection Paper
Internship Assessment
Brianna Fuller

Dr. Lidstone & Dr. Kaninjing

4/17/19
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Introduction

My name is Brianna Fuller, and I am a senior at Georgia College. My major is in Public

Health, and I am currently wrapping up my internship at Make-A-Wish Georgia. This is a non-

profit organization based out of Marietta, Georgia. Other states have multiple chapters, but

Georgia only has one! There are about twenty-five people that work in our office. Make-A-Wish

is a non-profit organization whose mission is to grant wishes to children between the ages of two

and a half, to eighteen, that have a critical, life threatening medical condition at the time of their

referral. The foundation was created in honor of a special little boy, who had leukemia, who

wished to be a police officer for the day. Some local police officers in Arizona gave this boy the

best day of his life. He had his own uniform, motorcycle, and everything. When he passed away,

he had a proper police officer service and was awarded the medal of honor. That year, in 1980,

that is when the idea to grant wishes to children who had life threatening illnesses was born.

Description of Experiences

During my internship, I was a Medical Outreach Intern that by the end took on various

roles. My main role was to complete welcome calls to families. I would tell the family that their

child had qualified for a wish, and then give them enough information about our process as I

could. I also organized files, created files, and was responsible for maintaining communication

between our office, the wish families, social workers, and the medical teams. I organized our

wish closet which is filled with small gifts we send out in wish boxes before a child’s wish is

granted. Restocked things for our wish closet such as shirts, buttons, and folders, and luggage

tags. I created and sent out wish boxes, and sneak peeks which are tubes containing their wish

itinerary and confetti! I collected documents from the families to put in each child’s file, and I
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also did a lot of filing. When we would have a wish that needed to be rushed, I was responsible

for handling the call and handing it off to my supervisor who will take the file to the next step in

the process. When a child passed away, I was responsible for sending out a card to the family.

These are some of the many tasks that I completed daily during my internship!

The most motivating part of my internship was being able to attend some of the wish

events that we had and seeing how a wish greatly impacts not just the wish child but the whole

family. Our wish kids go through a lot of treatments, procedures, and spend a lot of time stuck in

a hospital. The families also sacrifice a lot during this time. A wish is something they can look

forward to, and something to get them through the rough moments of treatment. It is so

rewarding to do as much as we can to make our wish families happy. We get to meet the kids

and be a part of their wish sometimes and it is so rewarding to see how planning a special and

specific wish for each child makes the biggest difference to them. We will often surprise our

wish kids and film their reactions and that is just the best memories I have during my internship.

As an intern, we do not always get an invitation to events, so if I could change that I wish I could

have been apart of more events. I wish I could have witnessed more wishes being fulfilled,

because I love watching how happy everyone is and it is so rewarding.

The most challenging part of my job was when a child would pass away. When I would

make calls to parents to tell them their child qualified for a wish, I have a happy tone and I am

genuinely excited to share this news with them. This is usually when a parents will tell me that

their child has passed away. This is definitely something that was very unpredictable, but you

had to be prepared for when it happened. I was not prepared, and so the first time it happened it

definitely caught me off guard and I apologized and tried to get off of the phone as I was fighting
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back tears. Those were definitely the hardest moments during my entire time here. Finding the

words to say to a grieving mom is so very difficult. I think if I could have done something

differently, I would be better prepared on what to say in those situations.

Perception and Evaluation of the Internship

Personally, this internship exceeded my expectations one hundred percent. I thought I

would be in and out of hospitals and meeting sick children which sounded like good experience,

but a dreadfully sad job. I was able to work in an office setting, work on and see behind the

scenes how the wishes are brought to life. I was able to help fulfill wishes and be apart of wish

events. I never thought I would be able to be apart of the actual wish, so that was my favorite

part of my internship. Everyone in the office is super helpful, inviting, and sweet. I also got a lot

of experience in many different aspects of a non-profit, so this was also a plus!

I had two ideas for improvement, and they were handled very professionally. We held

meetings where I was able to table my ideas to my supervisors, and the CEO. I wanted to vamp

up our bereavement process and create a fire escape plan for our office. Everyone was very open

to both ideas and I really feel as if I made a difference in my short time here. For our

bereavement process, we were just sending a dollar store card with a generic message written on

the inside that apologized for the family’s loss. I found a quote and ordered some cheap but

fruitful flower seed packets and created a much more thoughtful and personal card that goes out

to the family. It is not much, but it is a huge change, and everyone has jumped on board with

using the new process. I also created a fire manual specific to the office. This included drills, and

a lot of cooperation from all staff members. Everyone was very supportive and encouraged me

with both ideas I had.

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As far as supervision, I was given many tasks to complete, but I was never watched over

like a hawk. I was given my space to work independently, but also offered the opportunity to ask

questions at any time. I had three supervisors, and also completed tasks from other staff

members. I really enjoyed the ability to work independently, and the comfort of always having at

least one if not all of my supervisors there in case I needed help with something, or just had a

question regarding a task I was given. We would also have meetings where my supervisors

would randomly check in and see how I am doing, and if they could help me in any way, which I

liked.

My experience could have been improved if the previous intern knew what she was

doing. I was basically doing damage control and tying to redo what she had done, just to be able

to do my job effectively. This could have saved me a lot of time and I could have been able to

work through my welcome calls a lot faster. I also think I could have taken some breaks and a

lunch every once in a while instead of working continuously and being burned out some days.

I would give this Make-A-Wish Georgia the highest rating I possibly could. I would

recommend this site to anyone who is interested in non-profit work, public health, planning

events, etc. This was such a fun, healthy, educational, and supportive environment. Although

you’re doing work, it is for a great foundation and you are working to make these kiddos wishes

come true. It is very rewarding, but the job comes with a lot of busy work as well as having to

deal with our wish kiddos passing away. This setting was small, but so family oriented. Everyone

will listen to your ideas, give critical feedback, and help one another to make our wish kiddos

extremely happy.
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After interning at Make-A-Wish Georgia, I would definitely be interested in working for

a non-profit such as this one. Although they do not make a lot financially, I think being able to

working in such a rewarding environment would make anyone very happy. I would gladly take a

position if it were offered to me, because I love the work everyone is doing here in order to make

dreams come alive for our wish kiddos! I would also be interested to dip my toes in other non-

profit organizations and compare them to my experiences at Make-A-Wish.

Internship Preparedness

As a public health student, we had classes that prepared us on how so work efficiently

with different populations and communities. We learned how to be able to communicate on

different levels to different populations depending on who we were talking to. At my internship,

I have to communicate with families, social workers, and medical teams. I have to change my

tone and speech for different people I talk to. This is what I feel like I was most prepared for. I

was the least prepared for my interview for my internship. By this point we have had to interview

with the career center to practice, but I think we should have had to do that before interviewing

for our internships. I think GCSU could have done a better job preparing us for interviewing

before our internships began. I did my interview in October, so maybe preparing us in the

beginning of the semester would have helped a lot.

Public Health is very broad, so there are many possibilities for a career. I think if the

school had a job fair specifically for public health that could broaden our knowledge of various

career opportunities in this field. In my Health Promotion Program Planning and Community

Health classes, we learned how to communicate with different populations which has helped me

a lot in my internship. We also learned how to hear people out and really hear what the
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community wants instead of just assuming what we think they need. When our wish kids tell us

what kinds of things they like, we really have to listen in order to properly prepare their wish

boxes and complete the wish they want. These classes have really helped me collaborate with

different populations to serve them to the best of our ability.

Internship Performance

During my internship, my biggest role was calling families to introduce them to our

foundation. Communication through my phone skills were definitely the biggest strength that I

gained throughout this experience. I was very nervous at first, but now I am able to talk very

openly and comfortably on the phone. I gained a lot of knowledge about how non-profits run,

and a lot about illnesses that I did not know before. I was given a lot of work during my

internship, but I can confidently say that I did all of my work to the best of my ability. Instead of

trying to just finish tasks quickly and less efficiently I would take my time and complete them

correctly. I also gave myself plenty of time to complete assignments so that I was turning in the

best work I could.

For my project presentation I was very excited and confident to share what I have been

doing at my internship site. I was thoroughly prepared and ready to present enough material for

the forty minutes required on the rubric. With other presentations I have done in the past I did

not have the enthusiasm or really know much about the topic. With this presentation I researched

for a long time and emotionally invested myself into making our office safer. In the future I want

to have that same drive and enthusiasm in everything I present. It made me feel very confident in

presenting to be able to pretty much present is from memory and be able to fluently talk about
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my project. A skill I can hone in on and keep improving on would be phone etiquette and

knowing how to handle situations that are unexpected.

Personal/Professional Insights/Benefits

Going into this internship I was told my many people that I am too emotional, this job

would be extremely sad, and I would hate it. My goals in choosing an internship was to broaden

my experience in a population I hadn’t worked with before, (children), and to go above and

beyond my comfort zone. I had to put other people’s opinions beside and pursue my goals. I

think this internship definitely met and went above and beyond any goals I had for myself or my

expectations. I was completely thrown out of my comfort zone, and yes it was sad at times, but

most of the time it was more rewarding than a sad experience. This internship has personally

strengthened my confidence in my work ethic. I also grew to manage my work well, and my skill

sin time management approve on hundred percent. Through my internship I have gained the

ability to communicate with various populations and be confident in the work I am doing. I have

learned a lot about budgets, fundraisers, and how non-profit organizations function properly. I

learned quickly how to talk differently when speaking to a parent verses a physician.

During this internship at Make-A-Wish Georgia, I have learned a lot about the

importance of team work, my individual work ethic, communication, time management, phone

skills, and the ability to properly serve the population we set out to. I had many responsibilities

during my internship, and although it was busy work, it was helpful and gave me a lot of needed

experience. I truly believe this internship has prepared me thoroughly for any career path I

choose. I am very thankful to have chosen Public Health as my major. Because of this I have

been able to gain experience through two remarkable companies, Central State Hospital, and
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Make-A-Wish Georgia. It will be sad to be completely finished with this college degree, but I

feel as if I have been fully prepared to take on any upcoming career paths I choose.