Best Intern Story Gets a prize from Switzerland!!

[Phoenix Mourning-Star]

Sounds like everyone has started their internships....so here's the deal:
Over the next 5 days the person who posts 'the best' (as judged by me) story about the goings-on, learning experience or quirky-factoid about their summer so far will win a hand-picked prize from Geneva, Switzerland (maybe even Rome [yes, I'm going this weekend])!! You have until Friday noon (that's 8am for you in Colorado) to post a comment to this discussion to be entered (...yes, after that, it'll cost you a 5$ donation to EHSA to get in!)....
Bring it on!

[Erin Reichert]

Can the internship coordinator get in on this one? Or are you just going to bring me something cool from Geneva (and/or Rome) anyway?

[Jessica Plunkett]

This summer I have been given the opportunity to gain the experience of working with the team at the Larimer County Department of Health and Environment. The experience I have already gained in my first two weeks has been amazing. Even though this is not my capstone externship, the team here has given ample opportunities for a taste of what goes on in each of the departments. I my main responsibility is assisting Lee Anne and Rich with zoonotic disease surveillance. I have been requested to assist in evaluating potential wildlife and bite cases for the need for rabies testing. Future responsibilities as the summer comes into full swing will include West Nile Virus surveillance, performing sample collection on corvids, plague surveillance, and I am told that I will have the experience of flea collection of the field. Of course, we have also gotten word that the rattlesnake populations are up this year, so this could be a very adventurous experience. I also work with Wildkind, the wildlife rehabilitation program at the Larimer Humane Society to coordinate wildlife that need submitted for rabies or plague testing. After working as the Wildkind Supervisor for two years, the experiences I had there with Rich and Lee Anne and dealing with the public and zoonotic diseases were influential in deciding to pursue my career in Environmental Health. It sure has helped my familiarity with dealing with these cases from the public health side of things instead of just the wildlife side of things. KT and Jenny have given me opportunities to accompany them on food and residential home inspections. I had no idea how many restaurants were really in the area! Paul has been busy, and I hope to have the opportunity to accompany him also on a few inspections. I also plan to ride along on the Estes Park water run, and gain more experience in water quality. Tomorrow I will get to familiarize myself with Air Quality and ride with Lee Anne for CFC inspections. Wow, all this in a couple of weeks and only 3 days a week at that! So far, participating in this externship is a wealth of experience and the opportunity to meet and work with a great team.

[Erin Reichert]

and the winner is......????

[Phoenix Mourning-Star]

Okay, so I have to give the prize to Ms. Jessica Plunkett for:
1. A wonderfully written submission
2. The first reply
3. ...and getting it posted to the right place!!

I'll be sending the award to Erin at the EH office for you to pick up, take a picture of yourself with it and post to the blog if you have time! Rock on!!

Hope you're all having a great time.... will someone please 'friend' me? ...no prize for that but I promise not to spam you....