I was late finding an internship. It took me a few weeks into the semester to solidify my position at Brain Moorman’s P.U.N.T. Foundation. Before landing my internship at P.U.N.T., I had applied to a handful of different organizations. Turns out, some internships require more experience than others. I found myself repeatedly frustrated and anxious as time was running out. I met with Dr. Irwin, the internship director, to address my concerns. Dr. Irwin connected me with Gwen Mysiak at the P.U.N.T. Foundation. Gwen is the Executive Director for the Foundation. I emailed Gwen and set up a meeting. I drove out to Orchard Park to interview, and she offered me the internship that day. I was excited and relieved!

Gwen has previous work experience in promotion and public relations at the local Buffalo public broadcasting station WNED, and also worked in TV Production managing national promotion for WNED’s original productions produced for PBS. Gwen has had a lot of real-world communications experience. She explained to me that she had really loved her job at WNED, but her cousin (who is like a sister to her) had a son who was diagnosed with cancer. Unfortunately, he lost his battle and passed away. While he was battling, Gwen became aware of all that Brain Moorman was doing. At this point, the P.U.N.T. Foundation was struggling. Gwen decided to take up the challenge and began to use her skills in promotion and public relations to resurrect the Foundation. I’m looking forward to working with Gwen because I feel like I’ll be able to learn a lot from her.

My first assigned task was to attend a meeting at Spot Coffee in Williamsville—which happens to be a five minute drive from my house. At the meeting, I met Gwen’s main co-worker, Bridgett. Bridgett and Gwen are the two women that reside in the office in Orchard Park. They make sure everything runs smoothly at the Foundation. A lady named Marcie was also at the meeting, and she sits on the P.U.N.T. Foundation’s board. We all met with two representatives from Kevin Guest House (KGH). KGH is America’s first healthcare hospitality house, located close to Roswell Park. They provide affordable housing to out-of-town families experiencing the stress of a loved one undergoing hospitalization or out-patient treatment at local medical centers. KGH is currently trying to expand, and Marcie thought it would be a good idea to collaborate with them. She said that, “Organizations are stronger when they work together,” and I agree with her. Gwen, Bridgett, Marcie and I are supposed to take a tour of KGH sometime soon.

The next week, I got to go to a board meeting and met Brian Moorman! It was an interesting experience being surrounding by professionals who volunteer their time to help the P.U.N.T. Foundation prosper. I didn’t speak much because there was a lot of material to get through. I listened closely and took notes. Bridgett asked me to type up the board meeting notes and format it. After Bridgett checked it over and added the P.U.N.T. seal at the top, she sent it out via email to me and other board members. I was proud that she was able to use my copy without making many changes.

So far, my internship has been very hands-on, but it is a slow season for the Foundation. I am looking forward to getting more involved as the semester goes on. I know that one of my major projects for the semester will be organizing and planning P.U.N.T.’s, “Remembrance Weekend,” at Holiday Valley (April 22nd-24th, 2016). I feel like I really lucked out landing this internship. It’s a small team of employees so I get to see how every decision made impacts the Foundation and the community

.