My first weekend here was the chelsea flower festival! All the stores do elaborate flower displays and you get to bring home the flowers at the end.

Author: Kelly Summers | Major: Psychology | Semester: Summer 2025

My name is Kelly Summers, and I am a senior here at the University of Arkansas. I am studying Psychology with a minor in Social Work and African American Studies. This past summer (Summer 2025), I interned in London with the nonprofit Free To Be Kids. Free to Be Kids is based in London and gives vulnerable children the space to simply be children. I can’t recommend the experience of studying abroad enough.

Interning at Free to Be Kids was truly the most rewarding experience I have ever had. The charity finds vulnerable children in London through referrals from social workers and schools. During school holidays, Free to Be Kids buses the children to the countryside, where they will spend a week having fun! This includes camping, canoeing, horseback riding, and lots of hot cocoa. These holidays provide children with a safe place to be themselves, supported by caring adults and other kids who understand their struggles. The children leave with a higher self-esteem, stronger coping skills, and fond memories.

I had the opportunity to join one of these holidays with the older children! It was truly the most rewarding and memorable experience. Watching the children bouncing off the adults’ energy and each other was incredibly beautiful.

When not on holiday, my role was primarily working with the operations team and the referrals team. For operations, I coded the children’s vulnerabilities and risks to aid the charity in receiving funding. This work was heavy but deeply important for the organization. It gave me the unique perspective of what goes into a non-profit receiving funding, and the prevalent vulnerabilities that youth are facing today.

With the referrals team, I helped manage the consent forms for the children attending the holiday. This would include organizing what families have and haven’t returned their consent forms, contacting families to help complete the consent forms, and contacting the referrers, whether it be the children’s school or social worker, to aid in the completion of the consent forms.

I felt extremely accomplished in referrals, as I was able to complete all consent forms before their summer season began. Additionally, with operations, I had completed the funding documents and created a “how-to” document for future interns. Still, the most rewarding part of my internship was working directly with the children on holiday. I truly believe that I helped create a safe and positive environment for these children.

That said, the weekend on holiday was hard. You are faced with heavy stories and helping with large feelings that these children have difficulty processing. You are getting less sleep than normal, as if the children wake, so do you. Additionally, the days are filled with multiple activities that leave you more tired than normal. Unique to being an intern from America, I was still processing being away from home and the time difference. Halfway through, I began to feel anxious about whether I was doing right by these kids. Did I say the wrong thing? Could I have phrased this right?

The truth is, mistakes are inevitable. When phased with this anxiety, I thought back to when one of the children told me their teachers knew how to say they were sorry. I was definitely faced with a time when I needed to apologize. When I did, you could see the repair in the relationship between me and the young person. This eased my anxiety then and even now. I am going to make mistakes; that is inevitable. What I can control is apologizing and making changes in my behavior moving forward.

Through this internship, I learned how nonprofit funding is generated and gained insight into the day-to-day operation of the field. All the small steps that go into the funding, operations, referring, and advertising.

I also learned something about myself. I am tenacious under pressure. Even while grappling with mistakes and lack of sleep, I woke up every morning and pledged to be a better example and adult for these children.

Moving forward, I would love the chance to study abroad again. I am applying to grad school this fall and hope to be attending higher education next year.

I am so beyond grateful for this opportunity and would recommend it to everyone.