Public admin student gets a ‘big advantage’ in her field with Broncos Lead internship
KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Aspiring youth-focused nonprofit leader Mackenzie Flood knows her “why.”
“I am very motivated to work when I know that I am helping people for a cause and when I can see how my efforts have impacted others,” she says.
An internship with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Michigan is helping the Western Michigan University student identify the “how.”
Through the Broncos Lead Internship Program, which offers students paid internships with local small businesses and organizations, Flood is getting an inside look at how nonprofits operate.
Over the summer, she helped Big Brothers Big Sisters plan events, worked with financials and researched fundraising strategies. One of her biggest tasks was helping prepare for and carry out the nonprofit’s 2026 Benefit Dinner, which is its largest fundraising event of the year. It allowed her to put the professional communication skills she’s been learning in her courses into practice.
“Being able to have contact with sponsors, visit them at their workplaces and get to know the faces helping the cause was really great,” she says. “Something I’ve noticed is a huge part of working with nonprofits is who you know, so making connections within the community is important.”
The experience helped her connect the concepts she’d read about with the realities of someone working in her field of choice.
“In our classes we talk about how organizations are structured, seeing where sponsors and employees and the community all fit into that, but this experience has really let me see how they all fit together and what those roles really look like,” says Flood, who is majoring in public and nonprofit administration as well as leadership and business strategy.
It also allowed her to step outside her comfort zone and bolster her resume.
“In a nonprofit organization, everyone wears many hats,” says Flood. “At Big Brothers Big Sisters, we use a lot of online software that I’ve had to research and learn how to use. I also got into a little bit of coding. It was cool to learn new skills and will be a big advantage in my field.”
Flood says the relationships she’s formed with her coworkers and learning how to interact with professionals in a work setting has been an invaluable part of her internship.
“We learn a lot about professional communication in our classes,” she says, “but there’s nothing like putting it into practice to really understand the impact.”
In addition to gaining real-world experience in her chosen industry and adding new tools to her professional toolbox through her internship, Flood has firmed up her interest in this type of purpose-driven work as she considers future career opportunities.
Such work aligns with her long-standing passion for helping children. Flood was part of a group in high school that raised money for children with cancer, and she has spent the past two years working in a day care facility.
“Children have so much life ahead of them and such curious and open minds,” she says. “Helping them makes me happy, too!”
She’ll get to continue making an impact on young lives through Big Brothers Big Sisters, where she’s been approved to continue her internship through the fall 2026 semester.
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