As a graduating senior with a major in social work, Kennedi Lawson truly understands the value of being an active participant in the Be The Match® intern program. With a desire to pursue a career in community and mental health, the Little Rock, Arkansas, native practices self-care as a means of maintaining her sanity and helping others in the process. “I live by the idea that you cannot pour into people from an empty glass,” she says.
Lawson recently sat down with rolling out to share her experience as a Be The Match intern.
What is Be The Match?
Be The Match is an organization that connects patients with blood cancers and diseases like sickle cell with a life-saving donor. It continues to strive to increase the presence of Black people on the blood stem cell donor registry.
Please share three reasons you enjoy being a Be The Match intern.
Oh, my gosh, there’re so many. So, the first reason would definitely be just being an intern for a program that is trying to help Black people and doing it through Black people. I see a lot of internships that are calling on Black students who attend college, but they’re not actually serving the Black community.
The second reason would be that they really pour into us as interns. They are constantly making us aware that we fit in no matter what our story, our background, our major; we fit into a place in Be The Match. There’s a responsibility for us somewhere. No matter [what], you can contribute in some way.
The third reason would be the acknowledgment of the racial barriers that Black people face. I really appreciate that. For Black History Month, they actually sent all the interns a movie pack and they were gonna have a movie night with us, and we watched Black history movies. [It’s] not just like, “Oh, we’re working for Black people to better their situation.” You’re acknowledging every component of Black lives, so I appreciate that.
Go to the next page to read why Lawson thinks HBCU students should join the Be The Match Registry.
