Making an Impact at Feeding America

Monica Garcia (EDI '25) shares how she applied lessons learned in EDI to her summer internship at the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief organization.

As Monica Garcia (EDI '25) considered where to apply for her summer internship through Northwestern's Master of Science in Engineering Design Innovation (EDI) program, she knew she wanted an opportunity to make a meaningful impact.

At Feeding America, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping people facing food insecurity, she was able to do just that.

"I was excited by the opportunity to understand the inner workings of a non-profit organization," Garcia said. "Additionally, I valued the chance to volunteer at food banks and see firsthand how our efforts positively affect people’s lives. This hands-on involvement gave me a sense of purpose."

Feeding America is part of a nationwide network of food banks, food pantries, and community based organizations. It is the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief organization.

Garcia's approach to the internship was straightforward: she knew she wanted to keep user experience at the forefront of everything she did. She worked on a variety of projects throughout the summer, and maintaining that user focus allowed her to impact different stakeholders within and outside the organization.

Garcia helped redesign the user experience for a virtual conference with more than 1,000 participants from food banks across the country. She consolidated in-person event planning resources to create a user-friendly platform to standardize and simplify the event planning process. She also helped develop a metrics dashboard that allows the organization to monitor the effectiveness of their learning materials and toolkits.

Garcia routinely saw how important user experience was to Feeding America, particularly in regard to the organization's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

"Our virtual event incorporated closed captions, real-time translation in multiple languages, accessible presentation design, and diverse speakers," she said. "This authentic dedication to DEI reinforced the importance of inclusivity and representation."

Throughout the summer, Garcia found herself applying lessons learned during her time in EDI. In the program's service design studio course, students learn to analyze existing services and design meaningful new ones. That course was particularly relevant to Garcia's internship, she said.

"Our focus on accessibility in the service design was directly applicable to my work during the internship," Garcia said. "I integrated these principles into my projects, enhancing their impact and aligning with best practices at Feeding America."

Garcia was thrilled to take lessons learned in EDI and incorporate them into workflows at Feeding America. The experience reinforced the value of internships and demonstrated why an internship is a component of the EDI curriculum, she said.

"Internships offer a crucial bridge between academic projects and real-world experience," she said. "They expose students to the complexities of practical work, helping us understand how to balance progress with perfection and develop effective feedback systems. This hands-on experience is invaluable for applying classroom knowledge in real-life scenarios."