The Best Buddies Program

The Best Buddies Program

Best Buddies International is a nonprofit organization creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This organization serves people with Down Syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, and others.

Best Buddies is a great program because it helps people with disabilities form meaningful relationships with their peers and help them feel included. Not only is it great for the students with disabilities, but it very rewarding to the volunteers as well.

College sophomore Emma Whitner participated in this program while she was a high school student. During her junior year, she and another student volunteer were paired together with an entire middle school class so she had the opportunity to work with multiple students. During her senior year, she had the same system but was paired up with a high school class instead. This is one way the Best Buddies program works, but volunteers may get paired up one on one with someone as well.

Best Buddies International not only offers these friendship programs, but they also offer leadership development and integrated employment opportunities as well. The purpose of the leadership development program is to allow people with special needs to gain public speaking skills and confidence. The employment program seeks to find jobs for special needs people to suit their interests and talent. 

If you are looking for a volunteer opportunity in your life that is rewarding and fun, Best Buddies International would be a great program to look into. Not only will you be positively impacting a person’s life, but will you will make lasting friendships in the process.

Internship Advice for Collage Students

Any college student understands the struggle of landing a summer internship. It doesn’t even matter what your major is, internships are very competitive amongst students. Most students won’t do their first internship until at least the summer after their junior year, and sometimes not even until after they graduate.

Not only are internships difficult to land, but sometimes they aren’t even paid! It’s hard living in a world where you’re expected to have 5-7 years’ experience to get a job as a “recent graduate.” Every college student is trying their hardest in school to make getting a job after school as easy as possible.

Emma Whitner, a sophomore at University of Florida, managed to land her first internship the summer after her freshman year, which almost unheard of. I asked Emma for some advice that she could give to college students to help them get an internship.

Emma’s list of recommendations is:
1 Make connections in your major, whether it be professors or people in that profession outside of your school. Emma really made an effort to reach out and make connections with people that her father knew and worked with. This helped her in the long run.

2. Visit the career center on campus and talk to them about your options. Not only will they know about companies looking for interns, but they will also be able to offer you advice on your resume and interviewing skills.

3. Speaking of resumes, Emma says to make sure that your resume is always up to date and professional-looking but creative enough to stand out in a crowd. It is also important to make sure you have a good list of references ready, these could be an old teacher, coach, or a professor for example.

4. Be persistent. Emma said that after she applied for internships, she followed up with them to make sure that the HR department received it. This shows that you have a lot of interest in that position. She also made sure to send a follow up email after the interview thanking them for the opportunity.

5. Get a LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn is an incredible resource for making connections with people, has helpful articles about interviewing and applying for jobs, and it’s an easy tool for job searching.

6. Finally, Emma says to apply for every internship that sparks your interest. You’re more likely to get an interview if you apply to more places.

These tips can help students stand out during the internship hiring processes. This advice is great for not only students looking for internships, but anyone who is looking for a job. It is certainly not easy to get an internship, but being proactive and persistent will help you stand out in a crowd.