Writing and Attacking Childhood Hunger

By: Joni

I had been keeping an eye open for an internship that sounded interesting for at least the last two semesters. The problem I had was I really was not sure exactly what I wanted to do. I was leaning toward website design, but I also enjoy designing materials such as brochures and of course, writing.

I received an email from the Career Counseling Office last semester about Grand Valley State University’s full-time job and internship board. I immediately signed up and started looking through the jobs that the website claimed I was qualified for. I discovered two that I thought would be a great fit and uploaded my resume to them. Unfortunately, one had already been filled and the other required hours that would not fit my school schedule. Despite the set back I was not really discouraged and just kept looking.

It took until January for me to find more opportunities that I was interested in. Right after the New Year I applied for a few more. One was for a communications/public relations intern for an organization called Kids Food Basket. From the description, it seemed this organization needed an intern with many talents to work on several projects. Naturally, I was excited to hear back from the executive director the next day asking me to come in for an interview.

In preparation for the interview I printed out my resume, references and a few samples of my design work. I choose clothing that I felt was business appropriate, but was comfortable and weather appropriate. I left my apartment early giving myself enough time to find the building and still be early. However, the Map Quest directions I printed out happened to be incorrect so I only arrived about five minutes early.

Bridget Whitney, the executive director of Kids Food Basket, was very welcoming and laid back. I asked her about the history of Kids Food Basket and her animation and passion during her explanation showed me she truly loves her job. I told her I was interested in business writing, design elements and web page design and she excitedly told me that her organization was in need of all those things. We talked a little about what the organization’s current goals were and I told her a few of the ideas I had. Luckily for me, she had already looked into Grand Valley’s internship requirements and we set about figuring out a schedule and a project plan.

On the drive home from the interview I was really excited because I felt it would be a great working environment because the staff is laid-back, but also passionate about what they do. It also felt it would be great experience since I would have to come up with my own ideas plus work with the staffs’ ideas.