Interning with AS – My experience as a Bilingual Intern By Maguin Villasenor Hello! My name is Maguin Villasenor and I am currently a Junior at St. Edward’s University, double majoring in Communication and Spanish. Interning this semester with Austin Smiles was an experience I’ll never forget, and being able to help them even a little with their mission meant a lot to me. Throughout my time here, I have been able to help with many different tasks that have included things like assisting Austin Smiles with local international programming with Latin American Countries and communicating and trans ..read more

Interning with AS – The Importance of Speech Therapy in the life of a child born with a cleft palate By Hui My name is Hui Feng and I am currently a sophomore at the University of Texas at Austin, majoring in Speech Language Pathology. My ultimate goal is to become a pediatric speech-language pathologist. I have a longstanding interest in working with children with cleft lip and palate. To pursue this passion, I have participated in mission trips with Operation Smiles in the past. I led a group of medical volunteers as the “pre-operation” team, with the task of helping patients and their paren ..read more

Interning with AS – Henry L. By Henry Liu Hello! My name is Henry, and I am currently a junior biochemistry major at the University of Texas at Austin. Interning with Austin Smiles has been an amazing experience, and getting to be a part of their mission is something that I will never forget. As a someone who is interested in getting an MD and Masters in Public Health, my time here at Austin Smiles really furthered my interest in completing those degrees and getting involved with non-profit work in the future. Through my time here, I have realized that there is a lot of effort and money that m ..read more

Interning with AS- Behind the Scenes By: Naomi Sanchez It has been such an honor to work under the Austin Smiles mission not only because I’ve had the opportunity to learn about how to tell a story through a marketing lens but because I know that the work that I’ve done with this organization makes a difference in the lives of many children born with a cleft lip and/or cleft palete. During my time here, I’ve had the opportunity to work on the Austin Smiles social media pages which helps bring traction to their fundraising efforts like Miles on a Mission which is a partnership with Delta Airlin ..read more

Interning with AS – Reeya P. By Reeya Patel Having the opportunity to intern with Austin Smiles has been such an amazing experience. I recently graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelors of Science in Public Health. Currently, I am a graduate student at UTHealth School of Public Health pursuing a Masters in Public Health in Epidemiology. Today, more than ever, the influence and importance of public health is being recognized. I joined Austin Smiles in order to spread awareness of this importance while also being a part of the group of individuals that make a significant ..read more

Interning with AS- Family Fun Day By Leah Klein My name is Leah Klein, and I am going to be a senior at UT Austin in the fall. I am pursuing a Public Health degree with a minor in Business. I could not be more honored to have had the opportunity to work at Austin Smiles this summer. I have absolutely loved my time here so far and have learned so much. One of the most amazing things about Austin Smiles is how dedicated each person who works or volunteers here is to improve the lives of others. I couldn’t have been surrounded by better people! I got the opportunity to attend our Spring Family Fu ..read more

Interning with AS – Thank You! By Sam Mendez Austin Smiles and their mission are truly an amazing thing to be able to be a part of. This organization and all the people who make it possible are amazing at what they do. Austin Smiles piqued my interest very early on in grad school, and I have done many projects on their work. Now, it is an honor to be able to intern with them. Recently, I had the pleasure of attending and volunteering at the 36th Annual Wish Upon a Smile Gala. I was in awe at the number of attendees who come and be a part of this organization and their mission. Every individua ..read more

Interning with AS – Junior Intern By Miriam Daniel Hello! My name is Miriam Daniel and I am currently a senior at Westwood High School. I plan on majoring in Pre-Med at university next year and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with Austin Smiles this fall. This organization is a truly unique community with an incredible mission and I feel honored to have been a small part of its wonderful work.   Throughout my time here, I have learned so much about the administrative side of medical missions, as well as all of the behind-the-scenes work that allows such non-profit or ..read more

Interning with AS- Different Roles in a Non-Profit Workplace By: Georgia Quiroz Hello all! My name is Georgia Quiroz and I am a graduate student at Concordia University. December 2022 I will have my masters in Public Health. During my undergrad I never thought I would be getting a public health masters, but I have always had a passion for helping people and have always hope I would make a lasting impression on anyone I cross paths with. When my cohort was first talking about internships, Austin Smiles was brought up a bunch by our professors. I immediately looked up this non-profit organizatio ..read more

Interning with AS – Callie M. By Callie Mckay Hello! I’m Callie, and I am a senior at New Mexico State University. I was awarded my Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Languages in May, and I will receive my Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology with a concentration in Exercise Science in August. For my Kinesiology degree, I am completing an internship for my final credits, so I am working as both a PT tech and as an intern at Austin Smiles. What originally drew me to the internship was the dedication and passion that Renee and Ellise displayed throughout our initial Zoom interview. They explained the Au ..read more