So, what is the Externship?

October 28, 2015
by Heather

Externships

As part of the curriculum in the Entry-Level Master’s program, we are given the opportunity to capstone our professional development through a “Leadership Externship.” The externship is part of a course that is meant to foster skills in leadership, professional behavior, and an understanding in public policy and it impacts on our profession.

The externship is a two-week experience where students are provided with the opportunity to build leadership skills and explore an area that is of interest to them. In the past, students have traveled across the country and internationally to participate in a variety of experiences. Some examples include working with advocacy or cultural groups, volunteering for special interests groups such as the Red Cross or American Cancer Society, working in orphanages in Ghana and Thailand, and volunteering with community-based rehabilitation programs in Costa Rica and Turkey. Locally, students have spent their externships understanding the logistics of hospital administration and program development at Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, and Norris Cancer Hospital.

I am just the beginning of planning for my externship. I have ambitions of traveling abroad with some of my classmates to a rehabilitation program in Cuba. I am also considering continuing my community-based project of working with musicians with repetitive motion injuries under the supervision of an Occupational Therapist or Certified Hand Therapist.

I am keeping my options open as I look forward to this opportunity in only a few months!

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