Hello, my name is Jack Magee. I am a Public Relations and Communications Intern here at Noble this summer as part of the Fehribach Internship Program. I am going into my Senior Year at Valparaiso University as a Digital Media Arts Major with a Minor in Secondary Education.
While in school, I am a member of four organizations or clubs, and am on the executive board for two. I am the Public Relations Chair for my school’s Dance Marathon, a charity organization that raises money for Lurie Children’s Hospital. Additionally, I am a member of the Valparaiso University Jazz Band as a trombone player, my school’s acapella group Hooked on Tonics, and Vice President of Communications of my fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon. My hobbies include cooking, photography, thrifting, and restoring cast iron pans.
My high school has a strong special education program and unified sports team, a program that combines students with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities to play and compete in sports together. Both programs helped my classmates with intellectual and developmental disabilities flourish.
While I was never a member of the unified sports team in high school, I had track teammates who have IDD who threw shotput with me. As the throwing team captain, I helped coach my teammates with IDD, teaching them the rules of shotput and proper form. I believe I learned more from my teammates than they did from me. I quickly learned that people with IDD are just as capable of doing anything they put their mind into as everyone else is.
My favorite memory from that season was during a home track meet, and my teammate had fouled his first two throws and was on his final one. Before his throw, there was a huge amount of encouragement from my teammates, our competitors, and all parents. He threw his personal record on that throw, and everyone in the throwing area celebrated. I will never forget the looks on the faces of each person—it was pure encouragement and celebration. My teammate’s face was full of pure happiness and excitement.
I am currently in my second month of my internship here at Noble and have had some amazing experiences. Everyone here is insanely passionate about what they do and why they do it and show that they truly care.
I had my first experience at Noble Art recently and was able to get a tour of the place by one of Noble’s consumers, Tom. During his tour of the facility, Tom introduced me to all his friends in the building and was a ball of joy and excitement while doing so. When it became time to open the art studio, everyone was so happy and passionate about what they were creating and are insanely talented artists. The art around Noble Art is all beautiful; my favorite artwork I saw is one that’s an abstract depiction of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Overall, I am enjoying my time working at Noble so far. I truly believe in Noble’s mission of Dream it Live it. and have seen the mission working in action.
