by Amanda Dennis | Sep 26, 2018 | Career Exploration, General, International Opportunities, Liberal Arts, Student Perspective |
By Claire Burdick This summer I am a research intern in the Behavior Lab at the Saint Louis Zoo. A typical day for me involves collecting data from live and video observations and analyzing data from previous projects. For each study, all of the interns have to take a series of different reliability tests to make sure that we are all collecting data in a consistent way. I start each day by scoring video for a long-term project on mother-infant interactions in several antelope species. The purpose of this study is to learn more about how antelopes in captivity interact with their offspring and how different parenting styles might affect infant outcomes. Twice a day, I head out on grounds to help collect data on the current live observation projects. We are doing a study on the zoo’s new grizzly bears, Huckleberry and Finley, observing their general behavior to see how they are spending their time and how they are using their exhibit. We use a tablet to record what each bear is doing, how close they are to each other, and where each bear is in the exhibit every minute for an hour. Some days I head to the zoo’s primate house with another intern to observe Coquerel’s sifaka, black-handed spider monkeys, and guereza colobus to collect baseline data of general behavior for a study on how noise affects their behavior. The third live study this summer is on the chimpanzees, and we observe the three males in the group because a new male was introduced this summer. We collected data during the introduction process and are...
by Jennifer Barr | Jun 28, 2018 | Career Exploration, General, International Opportunities, Internships, Liberal Arts, Networking, Student Perspective |
By Bilge Yilmaz One of these pink-filtered, cloudy Paris mornings, I wake up to a simple workday. I take the subway line 8 to République, then 11 to Place des Fêtes, and arrive at the Blogo offices. Paris has an impressive rail system. I seat myself by my desk, right across two walls, respectively decorated with various posters of “Soirées de Poche” and with simple illustrations done by markers: Beirut, Kings of Convenience, Low, My Brightest Diamond, Electric Guest, Bon Iver, Andrew Bird, St. Vincent, Local Natives… It’s as if someone sneaked into my Spotify to curate this series. Everyone whistles the catchy intro to Arcade Fire’s Everything Now today. No complaints. The post-production process of their Paris concert’s footage from April is about to be over. Awaiting the final cut, we hear parts of the recording from the video room. Plus, it’s *finally* not raining today. Speaking and hearing French daily is a little bit harsh on me, but I will get through it. I start the day by going through all the very old videos on La Blogothèque’s website to help archive them. I rummage through music-hungry, passionate articles, and detect which ones are missing videos in good quality. Not your typical HD from 2000s camcorders, but so much technique, history – so many layers. In the early afternoon, we head to a studio to make an interview recording with the respected French artist Yves Simon, he tells stories of Zelda Fitzgerald. I accompany a small crew of a director, a sound engineer, an assisting producer, and Bedouine, a Middle Eastern descent singer-songwriter, as we go off to...
by Jennifer Barr | Jun 6, 2018 | Career Exploration, General, International Opportunities, Internships, Liberal Arts, Student Perspective |
By Dayana Davila This summer I will be interning at Penn Medicine as a clinical research assistant in a primary care setting with Dr. Carmen Guerra. Though I do not begin until July 9th, over the past semester, spring 2018, I participated in CIEE’s service-learning program through which I was able to gain valuable experience that I will apply during my summer internship. As part of this service-learning program, I was placed at Victoria Hospital, a public hospital, in order to complete the “service” aspect of my program. Though the purpose of my “service” at Victoria was to complete a research-based project, the first two weeks were dedicated to shadowing and immersing myself into the culture at Victoria Hospital. As a pre-med student, I was beyond eager for the opportunity to shadow alongside doctors and medical students as they went along their daily duties. It is important to note that Victoria Hospital is a teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Cape Town (UCT), meaning there is a constant flow of final-year medical students rotating in and out of each medical department as they finalize their clinical studies. This was of a great benefit to me because I was able to fit right in as an observer amongst all the medical students that went through the rounds each morning, although I was often confused for a medical student Every Tuesday and Thursday morning, I arrived to Victoria Hospital at 7:30 am for the beginning of the morning rounds, which usually ended around 11 am. On a typical morning at 7:30 am the consultant doctor, registrar doctors, and medical students...
by Jennifer Barr | May 24, 2018 | Career Exploration, General, International Opportunities, Internships, Student Perspective |
CCPA Note: Today’s blog starts our annual summer series, where Haverford students funded through college sponsored opportunities share their experiences. We are so excited for the series to begin, and look forward to an exciting summer ahead! By Yifan Zhang This summer, I have the amazing opportunity to excavate a medieval cemetery on the island of Fyn in Denmark. Haagerup archaeological campaign is organized by the Unit of Anthropology (ADBOU) at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU), and I will be working with bioarchaeologists from SDU and Penn State. Through participating in this exciting project, I will gain valuable fieldwork experience and learn bioarchaeological knowledge that is not taught at Haverford. What’s more, few things could be more rewarding than personally contributing to an international research project alongside leading scholars in the field! All of these are made possible by the generosity of Ms. Deborah Lafer-Scher and the kind support from CCPA, for which I am genuinely thankful. Haagerup cemetery was abandoned after the Protestant Reformation in Denmark and was in use for approximately five centuries, serving a local rural parish. Archaeologists estimate that there are 3000 burials in this site. So what can we learn from studying thousands of skeletons? Skeletal remains are fascinating carriers of information. When other organic materials and soft tissues have decomposed, bones persist in the soil. Not only do they provide us with the demographic profile of past populations, but diet, epidemic, disease, famine, and violence also leave marks on the bone. Numerous interesting questions, which are otherwise mysteries, can now be answers with the information we collect from the skeletal remains. Personally,...
by Casey Rau | Feb 9, 2018 | International Opportunities, Student Perspective |
Hi, International Students! Looking for an internship in your home country before starting OPT? Starting to think about your post-grad job search or graduate school applications? Wanting to know how international alumni succeeded at Haverford and beyond? We’re here to help! I’m Claire Chenyu Wang, your international student intern at the Center for Career and Professional Advising (CCPA). Primarily, I am focusing on the discovery of internship opportunities abroad for current students, as well as acquiring career advice from international alumni. The following are a few wonderful resources I am excited to share with you! First, we are very proud to launch a new addition to Haverford’s alumni directory! This sub-directory is a list of alumni who had F-1 visa while studying here. These alumni experienced similar challenges as you did and are willing to connect with, answer questions for, and offer advice and mentorship to YOU! To access this password-protected Haverford International Alumni-Student Network, simply sign up here. Haverford College Worldwide Alumni In addition to searching for alumni working in your home country from Haverford’s general directory (linked from the CCPA’s Networking page), the LinkedIn Alumni Tool is a great way to search for alumni by location, employers, and industries. There is also a Worldwide Alumni group where you can connect with alumni across the U.S. and abroad. Just type in your country and you might be surprised who and what you find–but be sure to read the CCPA’s Networking Guide and this blog by a Haverford alum before reaching out to alumni for advice on how to do so. Going Global Going Global is a great resource for career opportunities both domestic and abroad! You can search by country/city...
by Casey Rau | Sep 26, 2017 | International Opportunities, Internships, Liberal Arts, Student Perspective |
Julia Fortier ’18 CCPA Summer Blog Series 2017: Julia Fortier ‘18 at the Philadelphia Women’s Center This summer, I spent Saturday mornings volunteering at the Philadelphia Women’s Center. Since 1972, this facility has offered women pregnancy testing, ultrasound exams, birth control, GYN care, emergency contraception, STI testing and treatment as well as surgical and non-surgical abortions. Not only has this volunteer experience given me a greater understanding of the medical field, it has also provided me with invaluable connections to further my journey towards a career in medicine. I became interested in this volunteer activity out of a desire to gain a more intimate perspective on women’s healthcare. At PWC, I experienced firsthand the challenges and difficult conversations associated with this specialty. At PWC, I volunteered as an escort to welcome patients and guests to the clinic. In particular, I helped patients enter the clinic swiftly and without harassment from pro-life protestors. Protestors stand outside the clinic from 6:30am-10 every Saturday morning. Two on-duty civil service police officers are always present to protect the safety of patients, protestors, and volunteers, although they are rarely needed. Some protestors are passive and simply pray and sing religious hymns, others are more active and pass pamphlets to patients walking in, and a handful are very aggressive and harass patients and volunteers. These protestors attempt to dissuade patients from entering the clinic and follow them down the street after their visit to propagate their anti-abortion views. Patients were typically disconcerted and frightened by protestors, especially the majority of patients that utilize the clinic for its reproductive healthcare services, not its abortion services....
