As a double major in psychology and interdisciplinary studies, Jessica Salwen '09 (Ridgefield, Conn.) wanted to find a job that would fit her interests and give her some practical experience in research, which she would need for graduate school. She ended up finding not one, but two. Salwen is working as an intern at the Yale Child Conduct Clinic, and is also helping a sociologist at Fairfield University do research for an upcoming publication.
Thanks to alumni and parent donations, Hamilton students can apply for funding to support them while they work in a field of interest with an organization that cannot pay them. Salwen received a stipend from the Class of 2006 Internship Fund, which provides support for expenses associated with full-time, unpaid summer student internships.
The Child Conduct Clinic, part of the Child Study Center at the Yale School of Medicine, focuses on helping parents learn ways to develop positive behaviors in their children, while children learn constructive ways to handle situations. At the clinic, Salwen helps to administer two different tests, the Whistler Intelligence Scale for Children, or WISC, and the Wide Range Achievement Test, or WRAT which test the children's intelligence prior to admitting them to the program. The WISC consists of two subtests, one using tangrams and one that examines the children on their knowledge of vocabulary. The WRAT is a reading test that checks the children's pronunciation. In addition to conducting the tests, Salwen collects data from assessments filled out by the children and their parents, to get a more complete sense of the children's behavior and environments.
Salwen's work at Fairfield University is to help sociology professor Renee White research a current project on cultural competency and how it affects AIDS intervention. Part of the project is to establish a working definition of cultural competency, which is used in the health field to describe how to cater to people who do not share the same ethnicity, language, or beliefs. Salwen searches for useful articles about HIV and AIDS and reviews them to find significant information, and will be starting to look at speeches and public service announcements on the issue, as well, studying how they are coded and what strategies have been effective in intervention.
In both of her internships, Salwen is excited to see the applications of her academic classes in the real world, and to know that what she's learning in college does have an effect. Her familiarity with research has surprised her supervisors at times: "It's good to feel well-prepared," she says. At the same time, the level of minute attention required can be challenging. At the clinic, the coding and assessments are extremely detailed and sometimes confusing, since the data-collection involves so much work and analysis. Salwen notes that although the staff members are always willing to answer questions, there are "very high expectations" and she is expected to understand things on her own. However, her internship has allowed her to gain a fuller knowledge of all the elements that go into children's behavioral disorders, and to see how different elements such as testing, family life, and school are all related.
After she graduates, Salwen plans to study for a clinical Ph.D. Her career interests are many: she is considering working as a marriage and relationship counselor, but says that research and teaching are also possibilities. "I want to do everything right now," she admits.
-- by Laura Bramley
Thanks to alumni and parent donations, Hamilton students can apply for funding to support them while they work in a field of interest with an organization that cannot pay them. Salwen received a stipend from the Class of 2006 Internship Fund, which provides support for expenses associated with full-time, unpaid summer student internships.
The Child Conduct Clinic, part of the Child Study Center at the Yale School of Medicine, focuses on helping parents learn ways to develop positive behaviors in their children, while children learn constructive ways to handle situations. At the clinic, Salwen helps to administer two different tests, the Whistler Intelligence Scale for Children, or WISC, and the Wide Range Achievement Test, or WRAT which test the children's intelligence prior to admitting them to the program. The WISC consists of two subtests, one using tangrams and one that examines the children on their knowledge of vocabulary. The WRAT is a reading test that checks the children's pronunciation. In addition to conducting the tests, Salwen collects data from assessments filled out by the children and their parents, to get a more complete sense of the children's behavior and environments.
Salwen's work at Fairfield University is to help sociology professor Renee White research a current project on cultural competency and how it affects AIDS intervention. Part of the project is to establish a working definition of cultural competency, which is used in the health field to describe how to cater to people who do not share the same ethnicity, language, or beliefs. Salwen searches for useful articles about HIV and AIDS and reviews them to find significant information, and will be starting to look at speeches and public service announcements on the issue, as well, studying how they are coded and what strategies have been effective in intervention.
In both of her internships, Salwen is excited to see the applications of her academic classes in the real world, and to know that what she's learning in college does have an effect. Her familiarity with research has surprised her supervisors at times: "It's good to feel well-prepared," she says. At the same time, the level of minute attention required can be challenging. At the clinic, the coding and assessments are extremely detailed and sometimes confusing, since the data-collection involves so much work and analysis. Salwen notes that although the staff members are always willing to answer questions, there are "very high expectations" and she is expected to understand things on her own. However, her internship has allowed her to gain a fuller knowledge of all the elements that go into children's behavioral disorders, and to see how different elements such as testing, family life, and school are all related.
After she graduates, Salwen plans to study for a clinical Ph.D. Her career interests are many: she is considering working as a marriage and relationship counselor, but says that research and teaching are also possibilities. "I want to do everything right now," she admits.
-- by Laura Bramley
