LINK Project
LINK Reflection
I interned in surgery at the La Plata County Humane Society for my LINK Internship and learned many new important things. When I first started my internship I was nervous because I had never been in an operating room before and wasn’t sure exactly what I would need to do. Luckily I grew up working with animals and learning about their behaviors which helped a ton during my internship. I also had a lot of interaction with owners and other people working there which was fairly exciting and comfortable for me because of all the communication experience I have received in the past. Although there were a lot of things that I didn’t know that I’m experienced in now. I have learned many skills like understanding how to notice small changes in animal behavior for example if an animal is feeling offensive or defensive based on how they’re shifting their body weight. I also learned more about animal nutrition such as what different types of food are for and what appropriate serving sizes are for different breeds. I refined many medical skills such as pulling up vaccines and learning about different medications and how to calculate dosages. Out of all the things I learned I mostly learned about professionalism such as how to present myself around customers and bosses, and how to lead and plan important meetings. One of the harder things I learned was why animals are euthanized and how it’s done. This part was a large challenge for me because I am fairly empathetic towards animals, and because it’s kitten season we received a lot of kittens that we couldn’t save. This taught me that sometimes things happen in life and the best thing you can do is be optimistic. My internship was a great way for me to learn what it feels like to be an important part of an organization because I got to do my best to show up on time, do my part, bring a positive attitude, and help everyone with anything they need. In the future, the La Plata County Humane Society should accept more interns in the future because having younger people in the workplace will help bring fresh ideas. In addition, everybody deserves the right to learn and get a chance to experience at a young age to work in a field that is important to them regardless of their age because not only will having young people learn to be responsible be helpful for them but young people are the future and they need the chance to learn and get experience that will be beneficial for their future. This internship has also been beneficial to my future because due to my wanting to become a veterinarian I have gotten very helpful experience that will help support me in college and my career in the future. Along with this, a lot of colleges and jobs look for experience in their field and this gave me some of those hours.