Biology intern gets hands-on herpetological experience

Alyssa Williams, a biology major focused on ecology, conservation and field biology, interned this summer at Refreshing Mountain’s Wildlife Center in Stevens. 

She cared for reptiles and amphibians at the facility and taught school groups about herpetology. As part of her internship, she practiced snake identification in the Pocono Mountains. She and her coworkers identified a total of 23 snakes including a copperhead and timber rattlesnake. 

A summer in the Smithsonian

It’s a popular summer destination for tourists, but for one recent Bloomsburg University graduate it was simply the next step of her career pursuit.

Keara Drummer, a graduate student pursuing her masters in biology, is no stranger to museums and paleontology studies. During her time as an undergraduate at Bloomsburg University, she interned with the American Museum of Natural History where she had the opportunity to work with Invertebrate Paleontology Collections. This summer at the Smithsonian, she had the opportunity to build upon her pre-existing knowledge.

“My first internship was what I’ve been doing as an undergraduate collections assistant,” Drummer said. “The second internship was to get new skills in collections management. Conservation is inherently a large part of taking care of collections. Therefore, a set of skills I most definitely need to be a successful museum collections manager somewhere.”

Under the instruction of conservation specialist, Cathy Hawk, Drummer spent this past summer as a conservation intern working with a variety of specimen types including the new t-rex exhibit.

“My favorite experience was helping with the photo documentation of the new "Nation's T rex" for the new Deep Time fossil hall exhibit coming summer 2019,” Drummer said. “I got to hold and touch a Tyrannosaurus Rex and work and learn from one of the most influential natural history conservators in the world, Cathy Hawks.”

According to Drummer, the insight she gained this summer will carry into her graduate studies and potentially her future career.

“The knowledge gained about NMNH (National Museum of Natural History) itself and the conservations and collections skills I've learned and the networking I did this past summer is something I am thankful for every day,” she said. “I learned a lot about wet specimen and their care/needs. I am bringing that knowledge back to Bloom for their Biological Teaching Collections and the Paleontology Teaching Collections.”

Although most of her summers were spent working with paleontology, Drummer plans to focus on her degree in biology.

“I never wanted to go into paleontology specifically, but I wanted to work with collections of any variety,” Drummer stated. “I want to become a museum collections manager, scientist, specialist, etc. I like paleontology, but I'm at Bloom still to obtain a MS in Biology to make myself more marketable for other natural history collections (ornithology, entomology, invertebrate zoology, mammals, Invertebrate paleontology, vertebrate paleontology, etc).Who knows, maybe I'll end up as a paleontology collections manager? But, I'm just going where the wind takes me. I'm pretty open to any genre of natural history if it includes caring for a collection.”

MBA student comes full circle with JrNYLC experience

By Jaime North, Digital Marketing Specialist

Entering her first year of graduate school, the soon-to-be Master of Business Administration student knew an opportunity with the nation’s largest provider of educational travel experiences would be valuable.

It wasn’t a hard sell for Lyza Klein ’21. In fact, she went through Envision’s Junior National Young Leadership Conference herself as a teenager.

“This summer, from start to finish, taught me so much about myself and what leadership styles work best with mine,” said Klein, who graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in business administration management. “I got to see what different leadership styles look like when they work together. Also, I got to see what personalities work best with mine and how to create relationships with a lot of different kinds of people.”

She added, “Being able to see both sides of this (JrNYLC) program allowed me to scale how much I have grown over the last decade and have grown into the kind of leader I am. Bloomsburg has played a major role in my growth as well, but this summer allowed me to be even more confident and become someone who likes meeting new people and networking, while letting me get hands-on practice with different leadership styles.”

Klein spent two months this past summer in the Washington D.C. area working as a program office manager for JrNYLC, which provides middle school students the opportunity to experience the power of democracy among the monuments, be inspired by exemplary stories of courage, collaborate to discover solutions to some of the issues they face today, and spend a night in a museum among new friends.

“Working with Envision’s (JrNYLC) was something that meant a lot to me, because I completed the program in 2010 as a scholar,” Klein said. “Following graduation, I had a window of opportunity to do whatever I wanted, knowing that when I came back to Bloomsburg to start my MBA, I would have to begin thinking about my long-term career. Accepting a position with Envision meant I was able to see the administrative side of the program, and I now have experience as both a scholar and an employee.”

According Klein, some of her key responsibilities this summer were:

scholar accountability and assistance

oversee travel of the more than 200 scholars arriving each week from across the country

creating room check reports for the week

creating departure travel and airport staff manifests to track scholars getting home safely

manage paperwork and medicine collection

manage the 24/7 office phone and answer calls from scholars and their families

“Interacting with scholars and their families led me to learn about case management and record-keeping of interactions (we) would have with families,” Klein said. “As an (Bloomsburg) undergraduate, I was highly involved in organizations and clubs in different executive positions. I believe the experience from those roles helped me this summer, because I had experience working with a team to achieve a shared goal."

Klein said her JrNYLC summer experience prepared her well for her graduate assistantship for the Presidential Leadership Program (PLP) in the president’s office.

“Beyond personal growth, I learned how to manage tasks in the workforce and got the first-hand experience of working with tight deadlines, different personalities and ensuring that my work is acceptable,” Klein said. “I’ll bring the high-level effort and work ethic I worked on and polished all summer to my projects and classwork this school year.”

Although her perspective is as a business student, Klein sees great value in Envision’s JrNYLC for any college major or graduate program.

Internship gives SLP major an inviting look into audiology

Meghan Okken’s career plan was simple. Become a speech therapist.

It’s why she chose Bloomsburg University. It’s why she chose to major in audiology and speech-language pathology. Next in her plan — an internship, which led her into an another, yet related, direction.

“I honestly never considered going into audiology prior to this internship,” says Okken, who interned with Audiology Services in Nazareth this summer. “It was a great opportunity I felt I couldn't turn down. I had little knowledge about audiology, and of course, was eager to learn more about it. I had always done my observations with a speech pathologist, so I thought it would be really cool and interesting to experience the audiology side.”

The plan worked out perfectly, she says.

“I wanted to figure out a way in which I was able to do both speech and audio,” says Okken, who has decided to pursue a hearing aid dispensary license. “When I told their team this, they were so excited for me. They then offered to help and guide me through this journey, as well as give me all the resources I may need. I’m so happy I did this internship, because I would’ve never discovered my passion for audiology without it!”

That passion was sparked early on with an intriguing project from the onset. One of which she continues to work on to this day.

“What I’m most proud of is how much I learned about the field of audiology in such a short amount of time,” Okken says. “I was given a project in the beginning to kind of run with and see where it went. This was building the social media platforms for Audiology Services, but specifically the Hearing Matters Podcast’s Instagram (profile).”

Audiology Services does a monthly podcast to spread awareness for hearing healthcare and educate listeners on hearing healthcare, according to Okken, who herself was a guest this past summer.

“We were able to grow our audience from 204 followers on Instagram to almost 1,000 in just five months,” Okken says. “This was by far my favorite and most fun project that I’m still working on as the social media coordinator for Audiology Services.”

In addition, Okken says she worked closely with Blaise Delfino’s startup business Fader Plugs, a type of mechanically adjustable hearing protection that recently received a patent.

Even the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t dampen Okken’s enthusiasm, though an early threat to the internship almost shut the door of opportunity.

“I was offered this internship position before COVID-19 hit, and was so upset because I thought I wouldn't be able to do it anymore,” Okken said. “However, the team at Audiology Services was really great at keeping in contact with me so we could work something out. My internship was shortened, because the office was closed for quite some time.”

Okken says she still came away with a breadth of invaluable experience, adding to the solid foundation of speech-language pathology and audiology knowledge she’s received at Bloomsburg. The internship itself evolved from her regular education plan.

“It was definitely helpful having somewhat of a background in this field already, in regards to both the internship and education,” Okken says. “I would’ve never had this opportunity if it wasn't for Bloomsburg. I was required to get five hours of audiology observations, which I completed with Blaise and Dr. Gregory Delfino. Then a few months later Blaise reached out to me and had asked if I would be interested in an internship!”

Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (B.S.)

BU's audiology and speech-language pathology undergraduate program attracts students from all over the world, giving flexibility in pursuing careers in audiology or speech-language pathology.

The program prepares students for graduate education in either audiology or speech-language pathology through a comprehensive academic program that includes access to speech science, hearing science, and related technologies. Entry-level credential for speech-language pathology is a master's degree and a clinical doctorate for audiology. 

Criminal justice, sociology dual major completes Officer Candidate School for Marine Corps

BLOOMSBURG — While most college students worked part-time jobs this past summer, Bloomsburg University student Matthew Dolak was going through training at Officer Candidate School (OCS).

Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Va. is a 10 to 12-week course of physical and educational training for aspiring officers in the United States Marine Corps.

Dolak, from Allentown, is a senior at BU with a double major in criminal justice and sociology. He is involved with the honors fraternity, Phi Kappa Pi, and is set to graduate this semester.

“The OCS training had a lot of focus on leadership while we were also being graded on physical endurance and academics. We took classes every day,” Dolak mentioned.

The physical endurance part of the training included different activities to test their strength. Dolak got the chance to lead his fireteam, squad, and entire platoon.

“We would do big field events and go out into the woods and perform missions to give us a more realistic feel. Every morning we would wake up at 5 a.m. for workouts.”

While Dolak was testing his strength, he was also getting graded on exams and was even given a GPA.

“Tests and academics were very important in OCS. We all were given GPA’s and could have been kicked out for low academic standing,” claimed Dolak.

Dolak had the highest leadership grade in all of his Alpha company class.

Graduating from OCS and having a military career was something Dolak had his eye one from a young age. He is the first in his family to pursue a military career.

“Ever since I was young, I wanted to serve our country and go out into the world and help others. Going out into different countries and saving people’s lives means a lot to me. When I got to Bloomsburg, I went out and saw a recruiter for the Marine Corps,” Dolak explained.

Dolak originally went to see a different recruiter before he got connected with his current recruiter that works with Bloomsburg students.

“I went to meet with a recruiter in my hometown so I could originally enlist out of college, but once he found out I was pursuing a degree, he connected me with my officer Captain Hubler.”

During Dolak’s OCS experience, he also met various people with different backgrounds and experiences. Despite the diverse backgrounds, they were able to come together as one cohesive unit.

“I have learned to deal with all different types of people. I have built a lot of confidence and have pushed myself to break my preconceived limits.”

Marketing major kicks off senior year with rewarding internship

Eyeing a fast-paced, interactive marketing internship this summer, Damian Arizini had his career focus lined up just right to kick off his senior year of college.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic took over.

As a result, his internship with beMarketing in Philadelphia became virtual. Arizini adjusted his focus and recalibrated his motivation.

In the end, the Bloomsburg University marketing major came away with a rewarding internship experience that not only gave him valuable insight into the marketing world, it taught him a few extra lessons Arizini says gave him even more confidence to succeed after graduation.

“I learned a great deal,” says Arizini, who spent three months with one of the leading and fastest growing digital marketing agencies in the Greater Philadelphia Region. “What I’m most proud of from this experience was how comfortable I became when communicating with clients and my co-workers by being included in client and corporate meetings.”

He adds, “Throughout my internship, I worked with software programs (commonly) used in the marketing industry. Google Analytics, Google My Business and Sprout Social were a few of the programs I learned to use during my internship.”  

According to Arizini, these programs enabled him to develop reports for account managers as well as assist with research and developing marketing strategies for various client campaigns. Other responsibilities he had included creating monthly content and marketing strategies for clients, along with assisting account managers with client deliverables.

“It was awesome to learn the process of marketing for different industries and get hands-on experience of working directly with clients,” Arizini says. “During this internship, I learned how to create different advertising campaigns, maintain social media content, website proofing, write blogs, and track marketing analytics.”

Adding to his learning experience, Arizini saw his internship shift in June to in-person as beMarketing’s return to work plan went into effect.

“The beginning of my internship was indeed all virtual,” Arizini says. “This proved a bit challenging when I was first meeting my co-workers and learning the day-to-day operations via Google Meets video conferencing. It was certainly a different experience having client and internal meetings this way, but it worked.”

Arizini says he was well prepared for the internship because of BU’s marketing program, which has provided him with a professionally skilled foundation that he’s looking forward to further build upon over these final two semesters.

“(This) program continues to provide me the educational tools and resources to pursue a career in marketing,” Arizini says. “This includes understanding the behaviors of consumers, learning how to identify target markets, how to communicate with potential clients and the analytics software programs.”

He adds, “By participating in (the) Zeigler Institute for Professional Development (ZIPD) program, I’ve learned skills needed to enhance my professional development for career success, which includes communication and the importance of networking with alumni.”

Marketing (B.S.B.A.)

Marketing students study the process by which organizations satisfy consumer wants and needs in a contemporary society. Primary marketing activities such as product planning, distribution, pricing, and promotion are analyzed based on market research and consumer behavior.

The marketing concentration gains written and verbal communication skills through class discussion, presentations, case analysis and research projects that develop critical thinking skills. Internships are offered year-round in a variety of business settings; practical experience opportunities are highly recommended. A dedicated core of faculty support students through their applied, on-going research efforts that provides up-to-date course coverage.

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