Month: August 2019

Pursuing a college degree requires students to study and learn material in a specific discipline. In doing so, students hope that they will gain the credentials necessary to acquire a job post-graduation. A student’s pursuit of knowledge is a fantastic start, but he or she should also acquire experience when pursuing a career in the field of strength and conditioning.

The most challenging aspect of my summer internship with The University of Connecticut Men’s Basketball Program has also been the most rewarding. In strength and conditioning, there are numerous methods of achieving similar results. While there is no method that is one-hundred percent correct, a coach who programs trainings with a purpose, a specific reason for choosing “Method A” rather than “Method B” will probably receive better and more efficient results than a coach who does so without a purpose.

In my attempt to understand the purpose of the “why” in the strength and conditioning program, I have asked multiple questions, read suggested articles, and studied the athletes’ programming. In doing so, I have been a student under the direction of Coach Sal Alosi throughout the summer and have accumulated a wealth of knowledge. Furthermore, the ability to apply this knowledge in working with collegiate athletes has granted and exposed me to invaluable experiences that I believe will be extremely beneficial to me in my pursuit of a career in the field of strength and conditioning.

Blake Hammert
Exercise Science

Every day at the Everhart this summer, I spent my time with thoughtful people who are passionate about their work. It was fulfilling to be surrounded by people who love what they do and are an inspiration to me daily. I loved the opportunity to spend my days in my hometown, Scranton, PA, and contribute to the ongoing effort to make the museum more welcoming, accessible and innovative. I wrapped up the summer by installing the very first Open Studio activity that I was tasked with creating. The activity’s topic is portraiture and asks visitors to draw a picture of someone they respect and write about their admirable qualities. I also had the opportunity to finish creating compare and contrast pieces that compared famous works of art such as Starry Night to the Everhart’s very own painting also named Starry Night. One of the most rewarding tasks I worked on with the Education Department was helping craft a tour for the visually impaired. This included coming up with sound and tactile pieces.

The most challenging part of my internship was researching certain pieces we have in our galleries for the compare and construct sheets. Many of the works of art have little to no information, which requires a lot of primary source research through the museum’s files. However, while this experience was challenging, it was exciting to look through old files filled with hand-written correspondences and photographs. I will miss my internship at the Everhart and I am very thankful for the relationships I made this summer.

Virginia Farrell
History

Reflecting on these past weeks of my summer research, I have been faced with many challenges but have ultimately come out feeling rewarded.

In the first few weeks, there were times in which I felt overwhelmed by the amount of information that I was expected to know. I struggled with remembering how to how to operate the apparatuses, make the solutions, and follow out the different procedures that I was learning every day. This, along with an unstructured schedule that sometimes kept me in the lab until 8 PM, was very stressful. Also, research, in general, can be discouraging. Experiments are unpredictable and there were times that I spent hours working on an experiment only to end up with no results. To top it off, commuting on the ever-unreliable Long Island Railroad and NYC subway was especially exhausting.

Despite the challenges that I have faced, I have also been rewarded by this experience. I have grown a new sense of independence both inside and out of the lab. I am confident in the information and the skills that I have learned, and will be able to apply them to my classes in the upcoming year. Hopefully, the data that I have collected will be valuable in further research.

Overall, I am incredibly grateful for this experience. I have met so many brilliant people and I and am excited to see what the future of medical research will be!

Tara O’Hagan
Biology

In the past several weeks, I have been challenged by both technical and personal difficulties. As a research intern working in the lab, there were many days where it seemed that the procedure would never work or even worse provide for null results. In these times, I found myself desperate for answers and solutions to my problems. Moreover, being away from home and in an entirely different environment made it difficult to reach out to other collaborators and peers at the University of New Hampshire. Had it not been for my two mentors, Dr. Guo and Dr. Ashline, the summer would had been an extremely difficult one, but their guidance helped keep me motivated and focused on my research. We spent many hours discussing the fundamentals and performing the techniques necessary to succeed in the lab. During the summer, we had an instrument failure that caused the instrument to stop responding to inputs. It required us to take apart the internals of the Ion-Trap where we spent many hours carefully diagnosing it. After many lessons about the hardware that governs the instrument, we were finally able to find the part that was faulty, and we replaced it. It was in this time working side by side with them that I gained the confidence to succeed in the laboratory. This internship gave me the rare opportunity to learn and grow from a research intern to a scientist capable of tackling the important questions of chemistry. For this opportunity, I am most thankful!

Nolan McLaughlin
Neuroscience

It is hard to believe that the summer before my senior year is almost to an end. The most rewarding part of this summer was my internship at the Scranton Counseling Center in the Partial Hospitalization Program. The experience I have gained is indescribable because I have gained vast variety of knowledge. The whole journey of the past three months was amazing, but the most rewarding part of my internship was to see new behaviors every day. The clients were the same almost every day, but their personalities and behaviors vary daily due to their illnesses of depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. From that I have learned that every day holds something new for me and I should be ready to face different situations in the field of psychology. I have learned how to help clients cope with their different moods.

The most challenging part of my internship was when I had a hard time helping a client with how to change their negative thoughts into positive. There were times when clients were so caught up in their past that they were unable to see the positivity and hope for the future. It was then when I faced the most difficulty because they were not at the point to understand how precious life is. However, I hope to continue to grow in this area to better assist clients in the upcoming last two weeks of my internship.

Mili Patel
Neuroscience Major, Psychology Minor

As a rehabilitation sanctuary, Antler Ridge serves as a temporary home for sick, injured, and orphaned wildlife where they are nursed back to health and prepared for life in the wild. It is a sad reality that not every animal can be saved, but those that are get released back into the wild. Watching the animals leap and roam about in grass fields without the constraints of a cage, was the most rewarding and humbling experience of the summer. Releases served as a reminder that wild animals are not meant to be domesticated and caged. They also affirmed that the time spent, care given, and enrichment provided for the animals was all worth it. However, this summer did not come without challenges. Three weeks into my internship, the director/ my mentor broke her leg. In her absence, I was rushed into a role of leadership as I was still learning the ropes myself. Given the responsibility to oversee the sanctuary, it’s volunteers and intakes, as well as the care provided for the animals (especially the fawns) was intimidating and it challenged me to take on a position of authority. Despite the hardships, I am grateful for the opportunity this summer to have interned at Antler Ridge. I worked with some of the most unique animals- including a mink, met amazing volunteers that helped me learn and grow, and improved my leadership, communication, and organization skills. Most importantly, I gained valuable knowledge and skills to become a successful vet.

Michelle D’Alessandro
Biology

My internship at Our Lady of the Fields Camp and Retreat Center has given me great experience in both the marketing and management fields. The most rewarding part of my internship was being able to connect with so many people through the camp’s social media and seeing their positive responses to the pictures and videos I posted. I also emailed hundreds of people, such as priests, youth ministers, school principals, and sports coaches, to recruit groups to come to OLF, and we were able to recruit multiple groups from these emails. It was very rewarding for me to see how much of a difference my work has made for the camp. Additionally, managing groups at the camp was a rewarding experience because it helped me grow in confidence, both as a manager and in general. Knowing each day that staff members were looking to me for leadership and direction led me to be more decisive.

The most challenging part of my internship was communicating with people of all ages because not all audiences register well with some communication forms, so making sure I am getting camp’s message out to all audiences was a lengthy daily process. That communication challenge could also extend to managing the staff at times, as it could be difficult to keep everyone on the same page, especially when plans are constantly updating and evolving in a fast-paced setting, like at camp. I had to learn to be flexible and responsible when it comes to communicating. Overall, my internship at OLF was a great experience, and I am excited to apply the skills and lessons I learned in my career.

Maria Hickey
Business Administration

As always, summer came and went! My time at the Everhart Museum won’t soon be forgotten; I have made friends and colleagues, and I continue to work there as a gallery guard. The experience I gained working with the museum’s curator Francesca is invaluable to my future career in the arts- I handled and researched objects that most only get to see behind thick glass or hanging on a wall. I was included in decisions that will have a lasting effect on the curatorial department, and to me that means so much; knowing I played a role in the museum’s future. The Royal Experience is most definitely one that I will never forget, and I know how fortunate I am to have been selected to take part in it.

Jordan Oakey
Liberal Studies with concentrations in Studio Art, Art History, and Education Theory

After two months of research in California, I am happy to say that I had a great experience. Living at the White Mountain Research station has been amazing for a number of reasons. I have met so many different people from all over the US and from all walks of life. I have learned about different species, life histories and identification of plants/ pollinators, but also about other projects, people and places. I spent a majority of my free time without cell service, but became happily immersed in hiking, drawing, and swapping books with people from all corners of the country at the station. Living in rural, eastern California for 8 weeks was a great experience.

The most rewarding part of this internship was getting out of my comfort zone and learning about a completely new field of biology, pollination ecology. I was able to learn many new data collection techniques of plants/ pollinators throughout the summer. I even got the chance to learn more about statistical analysis and how to use data in a meaningful way to answer scientific questions. Though this summer was a great experience, I learned that I am not very interested in pursuing an ecological research career. I spent a lot more time alone in the field than I had anticipated. In the future, I hope to work in an environment where I can work as part of a close team and make more connections. Coming to this realization was a challenge, but I am glad I had this summer internship to help me come to this conclusion. Overall, I had a great summer full of research experiences that will help me to become a better, well-rounded research scientist in the future.

Elizabeth Kenny
Biology

This summer, the most challenging part of my internship at Nichols Law Offices has been to have patience when working with clients. My boss, Craig Nichols, seems to have an endless amount of patience to explain things to clients. Client meetings over simple matters can sometimes stretch well over an hour. Meetings over complex matters, like Department of Homeland Security interviews, can last half the day. Even in difficult cases, Mr. Nichols never gets frustrated or irritated. I have met this challenge by putting myself in the clients’ shoes and realizing how difficult it can be to express thoughts and feelings while facing life altering realities, like possible deportation. When I find myself running out of patience, I simply take a deep breath, refocus, and dive back while trying to explain the problem in a different way.

The most rewarding part my internship goes in hand with the most challenging. Giving our clients the legal service that they need to stay in the U.S. makes the marathon meetings worth it. When our clients give us their stories, it makes me so grateful to be an American. The poverty, violence, and struggles that many of our clients have dealt with are almost unimaginable. Helping these people find a better life in the U.S. makes all the challenges worth it.

Colin Sommers
History/Political Science