Student Blog
Externships

Leadership Externship in Ghana ⟩
March 24, 2014, by Clarissa

Externships International

In the Spring semester of your second year, we take a Leadership Capstone class, where we learn how to be leaders and advocates for our beloved profession. This class includes a 2 week leadership externship where go to different sites to learn the necessary skills that aligns with their goals. Thus, it’s a very personalized experience. It’s also different from fieldwork in that we’re not trying to learn clinical skills — we are building that extra set of skills to help our own careers as well as OT flourish.

As you can imagine, the externships can look very different — I know people who have gone to the American Occupational Therapy Association’s headquarters in Washington DC to learn about legislation and another who went to New York to learn the administrative side of running a private practice. Some stayed local in Los Angeles while some went abroad.

I chose to go to Ghana! International advocacy and improving my cultural competency has always been an interest of mine. Ghana is a great program and is organized by a USC OT professor, Dr. Bonnie Nakasuji. There were 32 students that attended and 11 practicing therapists. We stayed at a boarding school for children with disabilities and we came up with vocational activities for them to determine which vocation in Ghana is best matched with their strengths — we focused on sewing, woodworking, and leatherworking. This was so valuable because I learned how to gear activities to a low-resource population — we used rocks and sticks that we found at the school for some of these activities. Here’s a picture of me and one of my assigned kids Francis doing some woodworking!

Another role that the students had in Ghana was to pair with Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) workers. These were students at the local university whose job is to go into the community, identify those with disabilities that need intervention, ensure they access resources, and also encourage them to follow through with therapist recommendations at home after discharge from therapy. We educated them about the scope of OT and taught them basics in assessment and treatment. It was great just making new friends too! I did some student ambassador work off the job and gave them some OT buttons so they can spread the word about OT!

The externship occurs right before our spring break so I had some time to travel with 5 of my close friends. We flew to Northern Ghana and spent time in a national park, where we saw wild savannah elephants up close. Disclaimer: these elephants are not mating — that is a baby elephant playing with its friend!

I learned so much about myself on this trip. I’m still missing the kids in Ghana and am hoping that I’ll get to see them again.

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Snow Before Sun ⟩
March 2, 2014, by Clarissa

Externships International School/Life Balance

I’m about to embark on my leadership externship in Ghana where it’ll be over 90 degrees every day. I’m going from one extreme to the other because right before the trip, the socials chairs, which includes myself and a first year, of the Occupational Therapy and Science Council planned a cabin trip up in Big Bear for the OT program!

Getting there was quite the ordeal — it’s usually a 1.5 hour drive but it took my car 8 whole hours to get there. We got caught in a snow storm! So the traveling was stressful but it was worth it because, when we woke up the next morning, there was fresh, powdery snow everywhere for us to play in.

It was so fun building forts and having snowball fights with one another! We also cooked, watched movies, took walks to Big Bear Lake, and just talked in our down time. Being in a house together for 2 whole days was optimal for bonding time, which I LOVE.

It was a great trip and I’m looking forward to the next big one coming one — Ghana! In the meantime, I’m going to stress out because I haven’t packed at all.

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Preparing to Travel ⟩
February 25, 2014, by Jen

Externships

I cannot believe how fast this semester is flying by. This Saturday I will be leaving for a two-week externship. The goal of the externship is to build leadership, communication, and professionalism skills and independently explore topics that have been presented in our Leadership Capstone course this semester. This is different than another fieldwork or clinical experience. The externship allows you to create your own unique experience. Many people use this as an opportunity to travel abroad. I have many classmates that are going to Africa and working witch children with disabilities. I also have classmates that are traveling to Asia and Europe. I decided I would stay on this continent for my externship. I will be heading to Alabama to explore research within Auburn’s School of Kinesiology. I am very excited for this experience. I have never flown outside of California on my own before, so it will be a little out of my comfort zone. I am really looking forward to this opportunity and cannot wait to share my experiences with you when I return!

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Gearing Up For Ghana! ⟩
February 19, 2014, by Kate

Externships International

As I may have mentioned, I will be going to Ghana for my Leadership Externship, alongside about 30 of my classmates and 10 occupational therapists/professors. I’ve known since last November that I was going on this journey, but it is so crazy to me that I will be leaving exactly 2 weeks from today! There have been many items on our “TO DO” list that I have accomplished just in the nick of time; there are also many items on that list that I still need to conquer! Today I bought my insect repellent in order to fend off the mosquitoes, a couple bandannas to help with the dust, and all-important sunscreen. I still need to purchase materials for my activities with the students and get my school materials together for when I am there. I will be able to journal each day to reflect on my experiences, and I bought a camera for pictures and video. I’m so excited for this journey and to learn more about myself and my own capacities as a future clinician. I can’t wait to come back after my 3 week trip (Ghana in 2 weeks and then Spring Break for a week in Germany) and share all about my experiences. My fellow ambassador, Clarissa, will also be on the trip, so I’m sure between the two of us, we will have MANY pictures and stories. HOORAY!

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Spring is in the air ⟩
January 21, 2014, by Rob

Classes Externships International Living in LA

Spring is in the air. Not just Spring semester, but the feel of Spring. An unseasonable warm period has flowers blooming, students wearing shorts, and the ants at my house on the prowl. If you live anywhere east of California, I’m sorry. I know it’s cold. My parents in Chicago sent me pictures from when the daily high was not getting above 0 degrees. That’s not normal even for Chicago.

I’ll tell you, it makes me even happier to be in southern California!

Spring is in the air. In a few short weeks, I will be leaving for Ireland for our Leadership Externship. The experience is a student-organized two-week externship, which means it can be whatever you want it to be. Some of us are going internationally and many more are staying within the United States. For me, I wanted to get more education experience and see how occupational therapy and disability are taught in another country. I’m going to be at the University College Cork for the two weeks and then I’ll have part of Spring Break to explore the country on my own.

Plus, they have a juggling team!

Our final semester is focused on electives, giving students a chance to focus on one or several areas that they find interesting. I have three general areas of interest: education, disability studies, and older adults. For the first two, I’m working on independent studies focused on teaching pedagogy and disability education in occupational therapy. My other electives are Universal Design and a course on housing and older adults through the Davis School of Gerontology.

All in all, it promises to be a fun semester.

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