When Robin Loid remembers her late daughter, McKenzi, she remembers a young woman who could lift people up with her spirit and see the good in everyone around her.

After she began her career as a young public relations professional, McKenzi Loid passed away June 27, 2017, after a car accident in Pittsburgh. Now, following a private donation in her memory, an internship will allow public relations students at Western Kentucky University to work at Bowling Green High School.

“I think it will be an incredible domino effect,” Robin Loid said, adding it’s a way for her to honor her daughter. “All we can do now is continue her legacy by supporting this program and helping others.”

McKenzi Loid, who graduated from Bowling Green High School in 2008, went on to graduate from WKU in 2012 with a degree in public relations, according to a news release. After graduating, she began working as an account manager at the Guthrie Mayes Public Relations firm in Louisville.

In 2016, she moved to Pittsburgh and worked for the Walsh Group as a public relations manager on the state’s public-private Rapid Bridge Replacement project.

Vicki Bagwell, an associate professor of public relations in WKU’s Department of Communication, had Loid as a student and worked with the WKU alumna.

“She was great, she was always so positive,” Bagwell said, adding Loid could juggle multiple commitments and deadlines without breaking a sweat.

Bagwell said Loid also recognized the importance of internships for young professionals looking to get into the field.

“I always remember McKenzi understood the importance of an internship and wanted to apply what she was learning in the classroom to other places,” Bagwell said.

The internship will allow interns, one each fall and spring semester, to work with Bowling Green High School’s Journalism Department to expand the program with public relations principles.

It will also provide the interns with a $1,000 stipend, according to Robin Loid. While there are unpaid internships, Bagwell said paid internships aren’t as common as the department would hope.

But perhaps just as important, Bagwell said the internship will introduce aspiring professionals to the field and allow them to mentor high school students with similar dreams.

For Bagwell, Loid was someone who brought optimism to everything she was involved with.

“I think this internship will reflect that as well,” she said.

Loid’s mother Robin agrees.

“She would be very proud,” she said.