Current student Oscar Sullivan shared the following about being an intern at New England Wildlife Center…
How did you find this internship?
I had heard of them previously and found all the information on their website.
What did you enjoy most about your internship?
While I thoroughly enjoyed learning and participating in wildlife medicine, the part of this opportunity I enjoyed that was more unique to New England Wildlife Center was the emphasis on education. It felt like a test of my own knowledge when I could educate visitors on the many resident education animals and any wildlife we were treating that day. Also, due to the nature of wildlife medicine, I was doing something new every day based on what animals we were seeing and their specific conditions.
What did you find challenging?
One of the biggest challenges for me was that interns all came from varying experience backgrounds, so it sometimes could feel like I was operating on less knowledge than others. I came into this with only dog and cat experience, so it was intimidating at first when some of my fellow interns had had much more varied experience than I had. I grew out of this impostor syndrome pretty quickly, though, as I realized that everyone’s strengths and weaknesses complemented each other’s and we were all working collaboratively. No one was ever ridiculed for not knowing something and the other interns could use that instance as a test of their own knowledge in teaching it to someone who didn’t have the same experience.
What advice would you offer to someone who wants to make the most of an internship like yours?
Do everything you can to talk to veterinarians and technicians in your downtime! I came out of my internship with a lot to consider in my veterinary school and career research that I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t talked about my plans with the staff at the wildlife center. There’s many different paths one can take and it’s super helpful to hear as many different experiences as you can to get you thinking about your future.
