CWF Trenton Office Intern, Courtney Zinna and her friend the Rockhopper Penguin.
How many people have known exactly what they wanted to do for the rest of their life at just three years old? Ever since I was a little girl, my dream has always been to be a veterinarian. My dad played a huge role in my life growing up, by allowing me to save any animal that needed help, wild or domestic. We even had a pet baby squirrel in our house growing up until he was ready to be released back into the wild, as a now healthy adult!
As soon as I turned eighteen and was old enough to volunteer at the animal shelter, I quickly got involved in fundraising and pet adoptions. I then got hired at a kennel part-time and started my undergraduate degree at Rutgers University, majoring in Animal Science. Through Rutgers and my numerous other jobs, including being a vet technician and pet-care associate at PetSmart, I was able to gain hands on experience working with domestic animals. I was part of the Companion Animal Science Club at Rutgers and through this club I was able to help the many shelters recovering from losses during Hurricane Sandy by raising money and collecting donations, as well as educating younger classmen.
My favorite experience during school was working on a research project called “Animals Assisting Those with Autism”. I worked with a few other students and an advisor (Dr. Julie Fagan) to help set up different families all across New Jersey (who had a child with autism) with their own therapy handler-dog team. The study aimed to prove that therapy dogs can indeed help children with autism by enhancing their communication and social skills. The study allowed me to become a leader and as Research Coordinator, I was able to deal directly with each family and handler-dog team. It was such a rewarding experience that I will remember for the rest of my life and hope that with this study we can help change lives. Just seeing how, in six weeks, a child who was completely afraid of dogs, can now go up and hug a stranger’s dog, is quite astounding! Many of the families involved in the study have noticed permanent changes in their child’s behavior, such as being able to communicate more efficiently and becoming much more socially active with peers. Some study families have adopted their own therapy dog or have continued visits with a permanent handler-dog team.
Now that I am finally a Rutgers Alumni, I want to participate in more research involving Animal-Assisted Therapy. I am in the process of applying to both veterinarian and graduate school and I have learned so much working as an intern at CWF this summer so far. I was so excited when I received the internship position here, and look forward to getting out into the field. I have not had the opportunity to work with a wildlife organization before interning at CWF, and hope to continue interning throughout the year. I cannot wait to see what this year has in store for me!