Shanene Pierce, University of Massachusetts Lowell
This content was created by an EHS intern to describe intern experiences. It has not been revised or edited to conform to agency standards. The findings and conclusions are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
SUPEH Intern, Summer 2015
When I embarked on my studies of Environmental Health, I only had a few ideas of the careers that I could pursue with this degree. What I did know for certain, however, is that I wanted to use my knowledge and skills to make a positive difference. By participating in SUPEH, I was given the unique opportunity to experience what I could accomplish with my degree and discover how to direct my future education and training in order to have the career that I wanted in this field. Not only was I able to contribute to an ongoing project at the CDC, this program also challenged me to grow and better myself as both a student and future environmental health professional.
Growing up on a pond and living on private well water, issues surrounding water quality and supply have always been important to me. So when I learned of my assignment to the Water Team in CDC’s Division of Emergency and Environmental Health Services, I was excited to get to work. The main duties of the project involved finding updated sources of data on unregulated sources of water for the website and to contribute to the development of a future infographic. My assignment allowed me to use the skills that I had developed so far in my academic career but also apply and further develop them throughout the whole process. I learned how to investigate statements, back track to the original sources of those claims, and then translate the original data in a way that we would be able to effectively present our message to both drinking water professionals and individuals who relied on unregulated sources of water.
Besides my main project, the program itself helped me to expand my knowledge of other environmental health issues and critical thinking skills through various seminars and discussions. With each week having its unique theme, I was able to expand my knowledge on topics I usually did not think about in my coursework at school. Since public health is such an interconnected web of all different disciplines, this internship really helped add to my perspective and consider the connection of my own passion to other issues in the context of public health and its workings in a real-world context. Some of these connections included considerations of watersheds and water quality in communities and issues pertaining to supplying safe water when preparing and/or responding to different types of emergencies.
Aside from the regular programming of the internship, the SUPEH interns had an incredible opportunity to shadow United States Public Health Service (USPHS) officers on a vessel sanitation inspection, United States Department of Agriculture inspection officers in a meat processing plant, and health inspectors from a local health department. During the vessel sanitation inspection I was able to follow along with my USPHS officer as they inspected the potable water systems, pools, and spas on the vessel. For the meat facility inspection, we were able to watch the whole process from delivery of the cattle to the facility to the processing and shipment of the meat. And when we shadowed the health inspectors, not only were we able to shadow them on food inspections but also on pool inspections. These unique shadowing experiences allowed me to discover what I wanted to do with my degree and how to steer my studies towards that potential career path before even leaving school.
By job shadowing, attending seminars, and other experiences in this program, I was also able to network and connect with those who have had or currently work in the careers that I have interest in. Forming such connections helped me gain valuable insight that has added to my decisions concerning my future career path. After attending this program I can say that choosing to apply to this program was the best decision that I have made in my academic career so far.