cody@southwesttimes.com
Juniors at Southwest Virginia Governor’s School are getting some much needed experience in their potential career paths through an internship program.
The program places students at the school in many local businesses, including Pulaski Community Hospital, Volvo, Dublin Animal Clinic, Heartland Rehab, New River Sign Systems, Alleghany Brokerage, and Children’s Choice. The program lasts from the beginning of March until the end of April.
"I do work with the students ahead of time to come up with placements for all of them," said SWVGS counselor Linda McCraw. "They are all over the New River Valley. Even some of our Pulaski students are going to Virginia Tech in various departments to internship. Many are here in the county. It really gives them a good idea of what a career is like in that particular field. It can be positive or negative."
All juniors are required to participate in the program and will not miss any school time thanks to how each internship is scheduled.
Close to 80 students are participating in the program. So far, it has been a success in helping students choose what potential career paths they wish to pursue.
"We look at something they are interested in and they give me their first, second, and third choices of areas they want to explore," McCraw said. "Some of them know first hand where they want to go. Others have several different possibilities. Depending on schedules, we try to work (the internship) out so it is an area of their interest.
"For a lot of students, it helps to confirm what they want to do once they get to college and graduate. Others come back and say it wasn’t what they thought it would be at all and they don’t want to pursue it. That is good … because they don’t want to go to college and major in something and then find out it's something they don’t like."
Dr. Mary May with Dublin Animal Hospital is in her tenth year of accepting interns. She shared her experiences working with the program.
"We usually get one to four students, but groups of two work the best," May said. "I have a list of items that I go over with each intern. I always interview the interns first to make sure that what they think they are going to get out of the experience is something that I am going to deliver, so there is no disappointment.
"Both of these young ladies (interns at the clinic Tuesday morning) expressed interest in the (veterinary) medical field …. I thought this was a good opportunity to introduce them to what a small animal practitioner, which is what I am, does on a day-to-day basis. I have also extended an invitation for them to join me on days off from school, so that they get an idea of what happens" beyond the period of 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. on a Tuesday."
May will work with two juniors during the two month period – Amanda Salinas and Grace England. Tuesday's session was the first for England working in the hospital. She got to observe a minor surgical procedure.
"I haven't had a lot of hours yet, but I'm really enjoying it so far" England said. "I did better watching the first surgery than I thought I would do, although it wasn't major surgery. Hopefully, I will be able to get more comfortable with things like blood and needles because I am going to have to deal with that a lot if I want to be a veterinarian. I am really enjoying it."
Salinas has now worked twice in her internship at the animal hospital. She has learned many new trades in her short time there, but hopes to continue her internship into an exciting career opportunity.
"The first (visit to the clinic), she taught me how to read x rays, which is pretty cool," Salinas said. "I saw a cat that was pregnant. We did an ultrasound and saw the kittens on the screen. Today we saw a neutering, which is pretty cool. It is really nice to see all of this because it is a lesser scale of what I could do. I want to be a mammal veterinarian and this is kind of what it would be like."
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