Every day that I pack and prepare for my internship, I feel more excited for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! For the next several weeks, I will have the most amazing experience of interning at Island Dolphin Care (IDC), in Key Largo, Florida, a not-for-profit organization. They specialize in dolphin assisted therapy for children and adults with disabilities as well as for veterans of the United States military. I am so grateful to be able to complete this therapy internship with the aid of the Royal Experience Program.
I am thrilled to apply the skills and knowledge I have acquired in my occupational therapy classes, as well as obtain new skills as I work side by side with the therapists at IDC. As anyone would be, I am also looking forward to understanding unique aspect of this therapy, the inclusion of dolphins. Dolphins are some of the smartest animals on the planet, and I am lucky to be able to see how they interact with and help the clients of IDC.
I hope to use this incredible internship to not only pursue my future career in occupational therapy, but to grow as a person. At The University of Scranton, a Jesuit institution, I have been introduced to the value of “cura personalis,” or the care for the entire person. I believe that this internship will allow me to share this value with the staff and clients with whom I will interact and apply it to my future practice as an occupational therapist. I am truly excited to begin my Royal Experience internship and represent The University of Scranton in Key Largo this summer!
Claire Jarvis
Occupational Therapy
The beginning of my summer has been busy with receiving valuable working experience through my curatorial internship at the Everhart Museum. I have already gained various skills by working here the past three weeks; however, I am looking forward to learning even more as my internship progresses and I continue to complete more projects. This experience has helped me understand the role of a curator in not just handling the museum’s exhibitions, but also administering important responsibilities such as budgeting and marketing. My internship allows me to handle the museum’s artifacts and directly contribute to their conservation and repatriation to indigenous peoples under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). The research I have conducted on various sacred Native American artifacts has helped me understand a museum’s legal procedures while also gaining knowledge about native tribes and their culture. As I continue to work at the Everhart, I hope to be involved in the process of curating an exhibit that relates back to the research I have conducted so far. The knowledge I have gained will impact my future career as a curator because I have an appreciation for the extensive research that goes into conserving and displaying artifacts in an educational, yet respectful way.