By Annaleise Parsons | Staff Writer
Baylor students are taking on internships and jobs this summer both locally in Waco and throughout the United States.
New Boston sophomore Sarah Hunter said she’ll be spending her summer in Indianapolis to work at nonprofit Ascent 121.
“They work with minors who come out of human trafficking,” Hunter said. “I am the summer intern for communications and development, so I’m going to be working more on the business side.”
Hunter, an English major with a minor in poverty studies and social justice, said she’ll be using her refined critical thinking, reading and writing skills that she’s developed at Baylor during her internship.
“I’ll be doing a lot of writing with outreach to donors for education and newsletters and things like that,” Hunter said.
Hunter is also a student in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core. She said her final research paper in one of her rhetoric classes helped her during the application for the internship.
“I wrote about a solution to human trafficking and…specifically how a lot of victims end up being criminalized because of the things they’re forced to do while in trafficking,” Hunter said. “It’s an issue because they’re trying to get out of that and rejoin society, but they can’t because they’re being criminalized.”
While the internship is unpaid, Hunter said that she’s excited to get more experience within nonprofits. As a pre-law student, she hopes to represent victims of human trafficking as they adjust back to normal life.
“I’m pretty excited to learn more about nonprofits behind the scenes… It’s been something I’ve been wanting to get into for a while,” Hunter said.
Houston junior Paige Sauer said she will continue to work at Judd Veterinary Clinic in Hewitt while living locally in Waco. Sauer is a biology and Spanish major on the pre-veterinary medicine track.
“I get to do a wide variety of things [as a veterinary technician]. I get to assist doctors in appointments, help run lab work, help take X-rays and give out medications,” Sauer said.
While some employees at Judd Veterinary Clinic are licensed veterinary technicians, Sauer did not have any training prior to the position and has been able to receive on-the-job training for skills like drawing blood, placing a catheter and monitoring animals during surgery.
“Having a science background from Baylor has been helpful,” Sauer said. “One class that I’m in right now is microbiology, and that’s been super helpful because we’re learning all about different kinds of bacteria and how to identify [them]. For example, at the vet clinic if a dog comes in and we think they might have an ear infection, we take a sample, do a Gram stain on it to see what kind of bacteria it is and look at it under a microscope.”
Sauer said she first heard about the position through a friend at Baylor’s pre-vet club. She recommends that students who are interested in working as a veterinary technician to call clinics to see if there are any openings.
“There really is a need for people in the veterinary industry,” Sauer said. “Just call around and ask and have your resume on file.”
