IU South Bend alum extols the benefits of college internships

An internship may just seem like another step toward earning a college degree, but Andee Huxhold (BA ’23) says the internship she obtained while at IU South Bend is an experience she has drawn from throughout her career.

The executive director of Dismas House of Indiana interned at Lacasa in Goshen while pursing a general studies degree with a minor in political science.

“A large part of the internship dealt with similar at-risk populations. I worked to identify how to fund the important work they’re doing there,” Huxhold said.

The internship taught her about workplace culture and what it takes to fund and operate social service organizations.

“The was a communal aspect to the work there. For example, whoever got into the office first would pick up the mail. People would organize the storage room without being asked. There was shared vision and common goals. We worked together to complete the mission,” she said.

Huxhold has taken those lessons and works to incorporate them into her role at Dismas House. The organization supports individuals transitioning from incarceration as they work to rebuild their lives and reconnect with the community.

“I am the executive director, but yesterday I was plunging a toilet,” she joked, adding shared vision and goals help prevent burnout on the team. “The way we make it through is supporting each other to fill in the gaps.”

Her professors at IU South Bend knew Huxhold was driven to complete her degree and were impressed by the way she embraced the internship component.

“I could tell from her classes that she was extremely driven and passionate about applying the knowledge and skills she gained with her Bachelor of General Studies degree to her work in the fields of community engagement and non-profit leadership,” said Hayley Froysland, PhD, Director of IU South Bend’s General Studies Program.

It’s not just Huxhold’s current job that has been impacted by her internships. She said it impacted the skills she developed as she started her own development firm and ran the LGBT Chamber of Commerce in Tucson, AZ.

Looking back, she said she would tell someone in a college internship that they will use all their experiences.

“Things felt like busy-work at times, but there are things that I still pull from that experience that I can use today. You may not realize you’re learning at the time, but you’ll still pull from those experiences,” Huxhold said.

Today, she’s trying to create paid internships to make the experience easier to navigate for students.

“That is a luxury, but students need to understand that regardless of getting paid, internships will pay off. It can be a challenge to make it work, but internships open up so many doors,” Huxhold said. “I was blessed that my internship encouraged me to collect all the network connections I could during that time. It wasn’t just about doing work for Lacasa, but it started me off with a network I would not have had.”

She said one of the biggest realizations for her was being connected to an organization that is doing good work and developing professional references.

Now she is focused on sharing the good work that non-profit organizations – like Dismas House – do in their communities.

“Non-profits don’t just provide services—we create space for people to reconnect with their purpose and find their place in the community. At Dismas House, we’re not trying to ‘fix’ anyone. We offer support, hold space, and walk alongside folks as they work toward the kind of life they want to build—for themselves and their neighbors,” she said.