Georgie Powell is studying for a Bachelor of Psychology at UWA, and recently undertook a 100-hour internship with the Telethon Kids Institute through the McCusker Centre for Citizenship.
In her role as a Community Engagement Intern, Georgie supported the Telethon Kids Institute (the Institute) in their fundraising initiatives for the HBF Run for a Reason.
Part of her project focussed on the Institute’s ‘Runners for Research’ team, and her efforts, alongside those of another McCusker Centre for Citizenship intern, were a major contributing factor to the Institute bringing the largest charity team to the event.
“This project was a large task; aspects of my project included creating fundraising pages, reviewing KPI’s and supporting internal staff to fundraise for research for the Institute,” Georgie said.
“I helped the team stay accountable to the community with their training, and shared participant stories as well as how much money had been raised,” she said.
“Georgie was integral to the Institute’s success in seeking support for our team of community fundraisers,” said Belinda Frank, the Institute’s Community Engagement Manager and Georgie’s internship supervisor.
“She helped us rally interest and involvement from the community both internally and externally, most importantly helping us raise awareness of our Institute vision of Happy Healthy Kids,”
While the primary achievement of her internship was helping with community engagement and fundraising efforts, Georgie said it was a great opportunity to gain experience and learn about working in a large, community-oriented organisation.
“My internship allowed me to see how a large organisation can benefit the community in such a big way… I loved getting to know what research is done within the Institute, and what’s involved to make that possible,” she said.
“The most challenging aspect was having to learn how the Institute ran and who was a part of the project. It was important that we understood who was involved and how they were involved, as the project had deadlines which needed to be met and passed by a variety of different departments and staff,
“It was rewarding getting to work with such a great team; my supervisor was such a welcoming and lovely person as well as the intern I was partnered with… I looked forward to attending my internship every week, made some great friends and learnt more than I thought I would.”