Creating Smiles, Improving Lives

Global Public Health Internships

Our Global Public Health Internships are semester-long credited placements for undergraduate and graduate students. Austin Smiles hopes to provide an internship opportunity for students to grow as future public health leaders and learn what a non-profit organization encompasses. Due to our predominant Hispanic population both locally and internationally, we encourage Spanish Speaking interns and Hispanic/Latino interns to apply. Students interested in business, administration, social media, and marketing are also encouraged to apply to our internship program.

Austin Smiles Internship Program

The Austin Smiles Global Public Health Internship Program enables undergraduate and graduate-level students workforce development and non-profit leadership experience across the following areas:

Global public health, nonprofit leadership, healthcare, business, marketing/communication, fundraising and administrative skills.

This coveted internship placement is available to 6 – 8 interns per semester, with a preference for Spanish speaking candidates and those with diverse backgrounds. Each intern is required to commit to at least 150 hours per semester. Interns work with the staff to tailor their weekly schedule to meet the required hours and work around classes, jobs, personal events etc.

Due to the number of tasks that require team work, we require our interns to be in person during their scheduled hours.

All internships are currently unpaid positions for the first semester. Outstanding interns have the opportunity to stay on board for another semester and have a paid part-time position.

If you are interested in learning about our Global Public Health internship opportunities, please fill out the following form.

Internship Interest Form

Semester Long Program

Austin Smiles hosts interns from Central Texas Universities such as Concordia University, Baylor University, Texas A&M, St. Edwards University, Texas State University, Sam Houston and The University of Texas. However, the Austin Smiles Internship Program is open to interns from other Universities in other regions and states.

Austin Smiles provides the opportunity to complete required internship and practicum hours by working with the interns’ respective programs and universities. Austin Smiles will work alongside the students to create practicum goals for their respective programs, as well as help plan deliverables for graduate programs. Examples of deliverables from past interns include:

• Oral Health Video with supporting materials (English and Spanish)

• Central Texas Cleft Community Resources Pamphlet (English and Spanish)

• Current Best Practices in Craniofacial and Cleft Care Surgery – Literature Review

• Post Operative Care Instructions Video and guides (English and Spanish)

• Grant Writing

• Post Trip Statistical Analysis and Epidemiological Report (Presented to Board Members)

We currently also have a UT work-study program for students interested in Administration, as well as a scholarship program for Speech and Language Pathologists attending The University of Texas at Austin. For more information on our scholarship program with UT please visit our Speech Program page.

Current Interns

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Intern Goals and Outcomes:

Our interns learn how to share knowledge with their peers, foster community relationships, and build cultural and cleft competency. All of these skills enable our interns to enter the workforce and create a positive systemic impact in the increasingly relevant field of global health. Our semester long internship provides leadership training, workforce development and academic coaching. Interns are able to work on meaningful projects that deliver a positive impact. Each year, 2-4 outstanding interns partake in our international mission work by obtaining our global public health medical mission scholarship, this scholarship’s goal is for bilingual/Hispanic interns to be inspired to continue their studies and see first-hand their hard work pay off.

The overarching goals of the Austin Smiles Global Public Health Internship are as follows:

- - Foster a reciprocal benefit between Austin Smiles and Central Texas partner universities
  - Cultivate the next generation of skilled and culturally competent global public health and non-profit professionals
  - Provide meaningful practicum experiences in public health and non-profit leadership
  - Expose interns to local and international non-profit programming
  - Inform future career paths for undergraduate and graduate-level students
  - Provide mentorship, skill-building, and networking opportunities

Opportunity for Growth within the Organization:

Austin Smiles interns can be selected to stay on board with Austin Smiles for an additional semester. Becoming a part-time paid contractor, will be offered to interns who demonstrate leadership, passion, and growth within their internship experience.

Interns who showcase a connection to our mission and are bilingual have the opportunity to be a part of one of our international medical missions with a full travel scholarship that covers the flight and hotel stay to the medical mission site. This intern will serve as a translator, logistics lead, and patient advocate in our week long mission.

Current mission sites include: El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras.

Past Interns have gone on to work in various positions and fields as well as pursued higher degrees after their internship. Examples include:

- - Communications & Policy Analyst at HillCo Partners
  - Health Educator at the Bell County Public Health District
  - Researcher at the Gender Health Equity Lab at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
  - Grant Development Intern at Cancer Support Community
  - Child Protective Services Conservatorship Specialist at Texas Department of Family and Protective Services
  - House Operations Manager at Ronald McDonald House
  - Manager at Blue Faery The Adrienne Wilson Liver Cancer Assosiation
  - Community Liasion at Georgetown Behavioral Health Institute
  Check out our Blog Posts for what our interns had to say about their internship experience!